Taoist teachings from the book of Lieh Tzu;

Ubc TKHte&om of tbe East Series

Edited by

L. CRANMER-BYNG

Dr. S. A. KAPADIA

TAOIST TEACHINGS

WISDOM OF THE EAST

TAOIST TEACHINGS

FROM THE

BOOK OF LIEH TZtt

TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE,
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES,

BY LIONEL GILES, M.A.

AUTHOR OF "SUN TZU ON THE ART OF WAR,'

"THE SAYINGS OF LAO TZU," "THE SAYINGS

OF CONFUCIUS," ETC.

^Wto*

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

1912

All Rights Reserved

TO

MY FATHER

WHOSE TRANSLATION OF CHUANG TZU

FIRST AWAKENED IN ME

THE LOVE OF TAOIST LORE

52a:*51

CONTENTS

^NTRO

DUCTION ....

PAGE

9

BOOK
I.

Cosmogony ....

. 17

II.

The Yellow Emperor

. 36

III.

Dreams

. 58

IV.

Confucius ....

73

V.

The Questions of T'ang

. 82

VI.

Effort and Destiny .

. 97

VII.

Causality ....

. 104

EDITORIAL NOTE

The object of the Editors of this series is a
very definite one. They desire above all things
that, in their humble way, these books shall be
the ambassadors of good-will and understanding
between East and West — the old world of Thought
and the new of Action. In this endeavour, and
in their own sphere, they are but followers of the
highest example in the land. They are confident
that a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and
lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help
to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which
neither despises nor fears the nations of another
creed and colour.

L. CRANMER-BYNG.
S. A. KAPADIA.

northbrook society,
21 Cromwell Road,

Kensington, S.W.

TAOIST TEACHINGS

INTRODUCTION

The history of Taoist philosophy may be con-
veniently divided into three stages : the primitive
stage, the stage of development, and the stage of
degeneration. The first of these stages is only
known to us through the medium of a single
semi-historical figure, the philosopher Lao Tzu,
whose birth is traditionally assigned to the year
604 B.C. Some would place the beginnings of
Taoism much earlier than this, and consequently
regard Lao Tzu rather as an expounder than as
the actual founder of the system ; just as Con-
fucianism— that is, a moral code based on filial
piety and buttressed by altruism and righteous-
ness— may be said to have flourished long before
Confucius. The two cases, however, are some-
what dissimilar. The teachings of Lao Tzu, as
preserved in the Tao Te Ching, are not such as
one can easily imagine being handed down from
generation to generation among the people at
large. The principle on which they are based is

9

10 INTRODUCTION

simple enough, but their application to everyday
file is surrounded by difficulties. It is hazardous
to assert that any great system of philosophy has
sprung from the brain of one man ; but the
assertion is probably as true of Taoism as of any
other body of speculation.

Condensed into a single phrase, the injunction
of Lao Tzii to mankind is, "Follow Nature."
This is a good practical equivalent for the Chinese
expression, " Get hold of Tao," although " Tao "
does not exactly correspond to the word Nature,
as ordinarily used by us to denote the sum of
phenomena in this ever-changing universe. It
seems to me, however, that the conception of
Tao must have been reached, originally, through
this channel. Lao Tzii, interpreting the plain
facts of Nature before his eyes, concludes that
behind her manifold workings there exists an
ultimate Reality which in its essence is unfathom-
able and unknowable, yet manifests itself in laws
of unfailing regularity. To this Essential Princi-
ple, this Power underlying the sensible phenomena
of Nature, he gives, tentatively and with hesita-
tion, the name of Tao, " the Way," though fully
realising the inadequacy of any name to express
the idea of that which is beyond all power of
comprehension.

A foreigner, imbued with Christian ideas,
naturally feels inclined to substitute for Tao the
term by which he is accustomed to denote the

i

INTRODUCTION 11

upreme Being — God. But this is only ad-
missible if he is prepared to use the term " God "
in a much broader sense than we find in either the
Old or the New Testament. That which chiefly
impresses the Taoist in the operations of Nature
is their absolute impersonality. The inexorable
law of cause and effect seems to him equally re-
moved from active goodness or benevolence on the
one hand, and from active evil or malevolence on
the other. This is a fact which will hardly be
disputed by any intelligent observer. It is when
he begins to draw inferences from it that the
Taoist parts company from the average Christian.
Believing, as he does, that the visible Universe is
but a manifestation of the invisible Power behind
it, he feels justified in arguing from the known
to the unknown, and concluding that, whatever
Tao may be in itself (which is unknowable), it is
certainly not what we understand by a personal
God — not a God endowed with the specific attri-
butes of humanity, not even (and here we find a
remarkable anticipation of Hegel) a conscious God.
In other words, Tao transcends the illusory and
unreal distinctions on which all human systems
of morality depend, for in it all virtues and vices
coalesce into One.

The Christian takes a different view altogether.
He prefers to ignore the facts which Nature shows
him, or else he reads them in an arbitrary and
one-sided manner. His God, if no longer anthro-

12 INTRODUCTION

pomorphic, is undeniably anthropopathic. He
is a personal Deity, now loving and merciful, now
irascible and jealous, a Deity who is open to
prayer and entreaty. With qualities such as
these, it is difficult to see how he can be regarded
as anything but a glorified Man. Which of these
two views — the Taoist or the Christian — it is best
for mankind to hold, may be a matter of dispute.
There can be no doubt which is the more logical.
The weakness of Taoism lies in its application
to the conduct of life. Lao Tzu was not content
to be a metaphysician merely, he aspired to be a
practical reformer as well. It was man's business,
he thought, to model himself as closely as possible
on the great Exemplar, Tao. It follows as a
matter of course that his precepts are mostly of
a negative order, and we are led straight to the
doctrine of Passivity or Inaction, which was
bound to be fatally misunderstood and perverted.
Lao Tzu's teaching has reached us, if not in its
original form, yet in much of its native purity,
in the Tao Te Ching. One of the most potent
arguments for the high antiquity of this mar-
vellous little treatise is that it shows no decided
trace of the corruption which is discernible in the
second of our periods, represented for us by the
writings of Lieh Tzu and Chuang Tzu, I have
called it the period of development because of
the extraordinary quickening and blossoming of
the buds of Lao Tzu's thought in the supple and

INTRODUCTION 13

imaginative minds of these two philosophers. The
canker, alas ! is already at the heart of the flower ;
but so rich and luxuriant is the feast of colour
before us that we hardly notice it as yet.

Very little is known of our author beyond what
he tells us himself. His full name was Lieh
Yii-k'ou, and it appears that he was living in the
Cheng State not long before the year 398 B.C.,
when the Prime Minister Tzu Yang was killed
in a revolution (see p. 109). He figures promi-
nently in the pages of Chuang Tzu, from whom
we learn that he could " ride upon the wind." *
On the insufficient ground that he is not men-
tioned by the historian Ssu-ma Ch'ien, a certain
critic of the Sung dynasty was led to declare
that Lieh Tzu was only a fictitious personage
invented by Chuang Tzu, and that the treatise
which passes under his name was a forgery of
later times. This theory is rejected by the com-
pilers of the great Catalogue of Ch'ien Lung's
Library, who represent the cream of Chinese
scholarship in the eighteenth century. Although
Lieh Tzii's work has evidently passed through the
hands of many editors and gathered numerous
accretions, there remains a considerable nucleus
which in all probability was committed to writing
by Lieh Tzu's immediate disciples, and is there-
fore older than the genuine parts of Chuang

• He is thus depicted in the design on the cover of this
volume, taken from an illustrated work on Ink-tablets,

14 INTRODUCTION

Tzu. There are some obvious analogies betwee
the two authors, and indeed a certain amount of
matter common to both ; but on the whole Lieh
Tzu's book bears an unmistakable impress of its
own. The geniality of its tone contrasts with
the somewhat hard brilliancy of Chuang Tzu, and
a certain kindly sympathy with the aged, the
poor and the humble of this life, not excluding the
brute creation, makes itself felt throughout.
The opposition between Taoism and Confucian-
ism is not so sharp as we find it in Chuang Tzu,
and Confucius himself is treated with much
greater respect. This alone is strong evidence in
favour of the priority of Lieh Tzu, for there is no
doubt that the breach between the two systems
widened as time went on. Lieh Tzu's work is
about half as long as Chuang Tzu's, and is now
divided into eight books. The seventh of these
deals exclusively with the doctrine of the egoistic
philosopher Yang Chu, and has therefore been
omitted altogether from the present selection.

Nearly all the Taoist writers are fond of parables
and allegorical tales, but in none of them is this
branch of literature brought to such perfection
as in Lieh Tzu, who surpasses Chuang Tzu himself
as a master of anecdote. His stories are almost
invariably pithy and pointed. Many of them
evince not only a keen sense of dramatic effect,
but real insight into human nature. Others may
appear fantastic and somewhat wildly imagina-

INTRODUCTION 15

tive. The story of the man who issued out of
solid rock (p. 50) is a typical one of this class.
It ends, however, with a streak of ironical humour
which may lead us to doubt whether Lieh Tzu
himself really believed in the possibility of tran-
scending natural laws. His soberer judgment
appears in other passages, like the following :
" That which has life must by the law of its being
come to an end ; and the end can no more be
avoided than the living creature can help having
been born. So that he who hopes to perpetuate
his life or to shut out death is deceived in his
calculations." That leaves little doubt as to
the light in which Lieh Tzu would have regarded
the later Taoist speculations on the elixir of life.
Perhaps the best solution of the problem is the
theory I have already mentioned : that the
4 'Lieh Tzu" which we possess' now, while con-
taining a solid and authentic core of the Master's
own teaching, has been overlaid with much of
the decadent Taoism of the age that followed.

Of this third period little need be said here.
It is represented in literature by the lengthy
treatise of Huai-nan Tzu, the spurious episodes
in Lieh Tzu andChuangTzu, and a host of minor
writers, some of whom tried to pass off their
works as the genuine relics of ancient sages.
Chang Chan, an officer of the Banqueting Court
under the Eastern Chin dynasty (fourth century
a.d.), is the author of the best commentary on

16 INTRODUCTION

Lieh Tzu ; extracts from it, placed between in-
verted commas, will be found in the following
pages. In the time of Chang Chan, although
Taoism as a philosophical system had long run
its course, its development into a national religion
was only just beginning, and its subsequent
influence on literature and art is hardly to be
over-estimated. It supplied the elements of
mystery, romance and colour which were needed
as a set-off against the uncompromising stiffness
of the Confucian ideal. For reviving and incor-
porating in itself the floating mass of folklore and
mythology which had come down from the earliest
ages, as well as for the many exquisite creations
of its own fancy, it deserves the lasting gratitude
of the Chinese people.

BOOK I

COSMOGONY

Our Master Lieh Tzii dwelt on a plot of ground
in the Cheng State for forty years, and no man
knew him for what he was. The Prince, his
Ministers, and all the State officials looked upon
him as one of the common herd. A time of
dearth fell upon the State, and he was preparing
to migrate to Wei, when his disciples said to him :
" Now that our Master is going away without
any prospect of returning, we have ventured to
approach you, hoping for instruction. Are there
no words from the lips of Hu-Ch'iu Tzu-lin that
you can impart to us ? " Lieh Tzii smiled and
said : "Do you suppose that Hu Tzii dealt in
words ? However, I will try to repeat to you
what my Master said on one occasion to Po-hun
Mou-jen.

A fellow-disciple. Out of modesty, Lieh Tzu does not say
that the teaching was imparted directly to himself.

I was standing by and heard his words, which
ran as follows: —

2 17

18 COSMOGONY

'There is a Creative Principle which is itself
uncreated ; there is a Principle of Change which
is itself unchanging. The Uncreated is able to
create life ; the Unchanging is able to effect
change. That which is produced cannot but
continue producing ; that which is evolved cannot
but continue evolving. Hence there is constant
production and constant evolution. The law of
constant production and of constant evolution at
no time ceases to operate.

The commentator says : " That which is once involved in
the destiny of living things can never be annihilated."

So is it with the Yin and the Yang, so is it with
the Four Seasons.

The Yin and the Yang are the Positive and Negative
Principles of Nature, alternately predominating in day and
night.

The Uncreated we may surmise to be Alone in
itself.

" The Supreme, the Non-Engendered — how can its reality
be proved ? We can only suppose that it is mysteriously
One, without beginning and without end."

The Unchanging goes to and fro, and its range
is illimitable. We may surmise that it stands
Alone, and that its Ways are inexhaustible.'

"In the Book of the Yellow Emperor it is
written : ' The Spirit of the Valley dies not ; it

THE ABSOLUTE 19

may be called the Mysterious Feminine. The
issuing-point of the Mysterious Feminine must be
regarded as the Root of the Universe. Sub-
sisting to all eternity, it uses its force without
effort.'

The Book of the Yellow Emperor is no longer extant, but
the above passage is now incorporated in the Tao Te Ching,
and attributed to Lao Tzu.

" That, then, which engenders all things is itself
unengendered ; that by which all things are
evolved is itself untouched by evolution. Self-
engendered and self -evolved, it has in itself
the elements of substance, appearance, wisdom,
strength, dispersion and cessation. Yet it would
be a mistake to call it by any one of these names."

The Master Lieh Tzii said : " The inspired men
of old regarded the Yin and the Yang as the
cause of the sum total of Heaven and Earth.
But that which has substance is engendered from
that which is devoid of substance ; out of what
then were Heaven and Earth engendered ?

" They were engendered out of nothing, and came into
existence of themselves."

" Hence we say, there is a great Principle of
Change, a great Origin, a great Beginning, a great
Primordial Simplicity. In the great Change

20 COSMOGONY

substance is not yet manifest. In the great
Origin lies the beginning of substance. In the
great Beginning, lies the beginning of material
form.

" After the separation of the Yin and the Yang, when
classes of objects assume their forms."

In the great Simplicity lies the beginning of
essential qualities. When substance, form and
essential qualities are still indistinguishably
blended together it is called Chaos. Chaos means
that all things are chaotically intermixed and not
yet separated from one another. The purer and
lighter elements, tending upwards, made the
Heavens ; the grosser and heavier elements,
tending downwards, made the Earth. Substance,
harmoniously proportioned, became Man ; and,
Heaven and Earth containing thus a spiritual
element, all things were evolved and produced."

The Master Lieh Tzii said : " The virtue of
Heaven and Earth, the powers of the Sage, and
the uses of the myriad things in Creation, are
not perfect in every direction. It is Heaven's
function to produce life and to spread a canopy
over it. It is Earth's function to form material
bodies and to support them. It is the Sage's func-
tion to teach others and to influence them for good.
It is the function of created things to conform

LIMITATION OF FUNCTIONS 21

to their proper nature. That being so, there are
things in which Earth may excel, though they lie
outside the scope of Heaven ; matters in which
the Sage has no concern, though they afford free
play to others. For it is clear that that which
imparts and broods over life cannot form and
support material bodies ; that which forms and
supports material bodies cannot teach and in-
fluence for good ; one who teaches and influences
for good cannot run counter to natural instincts ;
that which is fixed in suitable environment does
not travel outside its own sphere. Therefore the
Way of Heaven and Earth will be either of the
Yin or of the Yang ; the teaching of the Sage
will be either of altruism or of righteousness ;
the quality of created objects will be either soft
or hard. All these conform to their proper nature
and cannot depart from the province assigned

to them."

# * #

On one hand, there is life, and on the other,
there is that which produces life ; there is form,
and there is that which imparts form ; there is
sound, and there is that which causes sound ;
there is colour, and there is that which causes
colour ; tjiere is taste, and there is that which
causes taste.

The source of life is death ; but that which
produces life never comes to an end. The origin
of form is matter ; but that which imparts form

22 COSMOGONY

has no material existence. The genesis of sound
lies in the sense of hearing ; but that which
causes sound is never audible to the ear. The
source of colour is vision ; but that which pro-
duces colour never manifests itself to the eye.
The origin of taste lies in the palate ; but that
which causes taste is never perceived by that
sense. All these phenomena are functions of the
principle of Inaction.

W u Wei, Inaction, here stands for the inert, unchanging
Tao.

To be at will either bright or obscure, soft
or hard, short or long, round or square, alive
or dead, hot or cold, buoyant or sinking, treble or
bass, present or absent, black or white, sweet or
bitter, fetid or fragrant : — this it is to be devoid
of knowledge, yet all-knowing, destitute of
power, yet all-powerful.

Such is Tao.

On his journey to Wei, the Master Lieh Tzu
took a meal by the roadside. His followers
espied an old skull, and pulled aside the under-
growth to show it to him. Turning to his disciple
Po Feng, the Master said : " That skull and I
both know that there is no such thing as absolute
life or death.

WHAT THE SKULL KNEW 23

" If we regard ourselves as passing along the road of
evolution, then I am alive and he is dead. But looked at
from the standpoint of the Absolute, since there is no such
principle as life in itself, it follows that there can be no
such thing as death."

This knowledge is better than all your methods
of prolonging life, a more potent source of happi-
ness than any other."

* * *

In the Book of the Yellow Emperor it is
written : " Substance set in motion does not en-
gender substance, but shadow ; sound set in
motion does not engender sound, but echo."

See note on p. 19. This passage does not occur in the
Tao Ti Ching.

Without motion there is no generation. Being
takes its rise out of Not-Being. That which has
shape and substance must come to an end.
Heaven and Earth, then, have an end, even as
we all have an end. But whither the end leads
us is unknown.

" When there is conglomeration, substance comes into
being ; when there is dispersion, it comes to an end. That
is what we mortals mean by beginning and end. But al-
though for us, in a state of conglomeration, this condensation
of substance constitutes a beginning, and its dispersion an
end, from the standpoint of dispersion, it is void and calm
that constitute the beginning, and condensation of substance
the end. Hence there is perpetual alternation in what
constitutes beginning and end, and the underlying Truth is
^hat there is neither any beginning nor any end at all."

24 COSMOGONY

The course of evolution ends where it started,
without a beginning ; it finishes up where it
began, in Not-Being.

A paradoxical way of stating that there is no beginning
and no end.

That which has life returns again into the
Lifeless ; that which has substance returns again
into the Insubstantial. This, that I call the
Lifeless, is not the original Lifelessness. This,
that I call the Insubstantial, is not the original
Insubstantiality.

" That which is here termed the Lifeless has formerly
possessed life, and subsequently passed into the extinction
of death, whereas the original Lifelessness from the beginning
knows neither life nor extinction." We have here again the
distinction between the unchanging life-giving Principle
(Tao), which is itself without life, and the living things them-
selves, which are in a constant process of evolution.

That which has life must by the law of its
being come to an end ; and the end can no more
be avoided than the living creature can help
having been born. So that he who hopes to
perpetuate his life or to shut out death is de-
ceived in his calculations.

The spiritual element in man is allotted to him
by Heaven, his corporeal frame by Earth. The
part that belongs to Heaven is ethereal and
dispersive, the part that belongs to Earth is

FOUR STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT 25

dense and tending to conglomeration. When the
spirit parts from the body, each of these elements
returns to its proper place. That is why disem-
bodied spirits are called kuei, which means
" returning," that is, returning to their true
dwelling-place.

" The region of the Great Void."

The Yellow Emperor said : " If my spirit returns
through the gates whence it came, and my bones
go back to the source from which they sprang,
where does the Ego continue to exist ? "

Between his birth and his latter end, man
passes through four chief stages of development :
— infancy, adolescence, old age and death. In
infancy, the vital force is concentrated, the will
is simple, and the general harmony of the system
is perfect. External objects produce no injurious
impression, and to the moral nature nothing can be
added. In adolescence, the animal passions are
wildly exuberant, the heart is filled with rising
desires and preoccupations. The man is open to
attack by the objects of sense, and thus his moral
nature becomes enfeebled. In old age, his desires
and preoccupations have lost their keenness, and
the bodily frame seeks for repose. External objects
no longer hold the first place in his regard. In

26 COSMOGONY

this state, though not attaining to the perfection
of infancy, he is already different from what he
was in adolescence. In death, he comes to his
rest, and returns to the Absolute.

Confucius was travelling once over Mount T'ai
when he caught sight of an aged man roaming
in the wilds. He was clothed in a deerskin, girded
with a rope, and was singing as he played on a lute.
" My friend," said Confucius, " what is it that
makes you so happy ? " The old man replied :
" I have a great deal to make me happy. God
created all things, and of all His creations man
is the noblest. It has fallen to my lot to be a
man : that is my first ground for happiness . Then,
there is a distinction between male and female,
the former being rated more highly than the
latter. Therefore it is better to be a male ; and
since I am one, I have a second ground for
happiness. Furthermore, some are born who
never behold the sun or the moon, and who
never emerge from their swaddling-clothes. But
I have already walked the earth for the space of
ninety years. That is my third ground for
happiness. Poverty is the normal lot of the
scholar, death the appointed end for all human
beings. Abiding in the normal state, and reach-
ing at last the appointed end, what is there
that should make me unhappy ? " " What an

DEATH GIVES REST 27

excellent thing it is," cried Confucius, "to be
able to find a source of consolation in oneself ! "

* * *

Tzii Kung was tired of philosophy, and confided
his feelings to Confucius, saying : "I yearn for
rest." Confucius replied : "In life there is no
rest."

" To toil in anxious planning for the future, to slave in
bolstering up the bodily frame — these are the businesses of
life."

" Is rest, then, nowhere to be found ? " " Oh,
yes ! " replied Confucius ; " look at all the graves
in the wilds, all the vaults, all the tombs, all the
funeral urns, and you may know where rest is to
be found." " Great, indeed, is Death ! " ex-
claimed Tzu Kung. " It gives rest to the noble-
hearted, and causes the base to cower." " You
are right," said Confucius. "Men feel the joy
of life, but do not realise its bitterness. They
feel the weariness of old age, but not its peaceful-
ness. They think of the evils of death, but not
of the repose which it confers."

* * *

Yen Tzii said : " An excellent thing was Death
in the eyes of the ancients. It gives rest to the
good, and subdues the wicked. Death is the
boundary-line of virtue.

That is, Death abolishes all artificial and temporary

28 COSMOGONY

distinctions between good and evil, which only hold good in
this world of relativity.

"The ancients spoke of the dead as huei-jen
(men who have returned). But if the dead are
men who have returned, the living are men on a
journey. Those who are on a journey and think
not of returning have cut themselves off from
their home. Should any one man cut himself off
from his home, he would incur universal reproba-
tion. But all mankind being homeless, there is
none to see the error. Imagine one who leaves
his native village, separates himself from all his
kith and kin, dissipates his patrimony and
wanders away to the four corners of the earth,
never to return : — what manner of man is this 1
The world will surely set him down as a pro-
fligate and a vagabond. On the other hand,
imagine one who clings to respectability and the
things of this life, holds cleverness and capacity
in high esteem, builds himself up a reputation,
and plays the braggart amongst his fellow men
without knowing where to stop : — what manner
of man, once more, is this ? The world will
surely look upon him as a gentleman of great
wisdom and counsel. Both of these men have
lost their way, yet the world will consort with the
one, and not with the other. Only the Sage
knows with whom to consort and from whom to
hold aloof."

EVOLUTION 29

" He consorts with those who regard life and death merely
as waking and sleeping, and holds aloof from those who are
steeped in forgetfulness of their return."

Yii Hsiung said : " Evolution is never-ending.
But who can perceive the secret processes of
Heaven and Earth ? Thus, things that are
diminished here are augmented there ; things
that are made whole in one place suffer loss in
another. Diminution and augmentation, fullness
and decay are the constant accompaniments of
life and death. They alternate in continuous
succession, and we are not conscious of any
interval. The whole body of spiritual substance
progresses without a pause ; the whole body
of material substance suffers decay without
intermission. But we do not perceive the process
of completion, nor do we perceive the process of
decay. Man, likewise, from birth to old age
becomes something different every day in face
and form, in wisdom and in conduct. His
skin, his nails and his hair are continually growing
and continually perishing. In infancy and child-
hood there is no stopping nor respite from change.
Though imperceptible while it is going on, it
may be verified afterwards if we wait."
* * *

There was once a man in the Ch'i State who was
so afraid the universe would collapse and fall to
pieces, leaving his body without a lodgment,

30 COSMOGONY

that he could neither sleep nor eat. Another
man, pitying his distress, went to enlighten him.
" Heaven," he said, " is nothing more than
an accumulation of ether, and there is no place
where ether is not. Processes of contraction and
expansion, inspiration and expiration are con-
tinually taking place up in the heavens. Why
then should you be afraid of a collapse ? " The
man said : " It is true that Heaven is an ac-
cumulation of ether ; but the sun, the moon,
and the stars — will they not fall down upon us ? ,:
His informant replied: "Sun, moon and stars
are likewise only bright lights within this mass
of ether. Even supposing they were to fall, they
could not possibly harm us by their impact."
"But what if the earth should fall to pieces ? "
"The earth," replied the other, "is merely an
agglomeration of matter, which fills and blocks
up the four corners of space. There is no part
of it where matter is not. All day long there is
constant treading and tramping on the surface of
the earth. Why then should you be afraid of its
falling to pieces ? " Thereupon the man was
relieved of his fears and rejoiced exceedingly.
And his instructor was also joyful and easy in
mind. But Ch'ang Lu Tzu laughed at them
both, saying : " Rainbows, clouds and mist, wind
and rain, the four seasons — these are perfected
forms of accumulated ether, and go to make up the
heavens. Mountains and cliffs, rivers and seas,

THE DAY OF DISRUPTION 31

metals and rocks, fire and timber — these are per-
fected forms of agglomerated matter, and con-
stitute the earth. Knowing these facts, who
can say that they will never be destroyed ?
Heaven and earth form only a small speck in
the midst of the Void, but they are the greatest
things in the sum of Being. This much is certain :
even as their nature is hard to fathom, hard to
understand, so they will be slow to pass away,
slow to come to an end. He who fears lest they
should suddenly fall to pieces is assuredly very
far from the truth. He, on the other hand, who
says that they will never be destroyed has also
not reached the right solution. Heaven and
earth must of necessity pass away, but neither
will revert to destruction apart from the other.

The speaker means that though there is no immediate
danger of a collapse, it is certain that our universe must
obey the natural law of disintegration, and at some distant
date disappear altogether. But the process of decay will be
so gradual as to be imperceptible.

Who, having to face the day of disruption, would
not be alarmed ? "

The Master Lieh Tzii heard of the discussion,
and smiling said : "He who maintains that
Heaven and earth are destructible, and he who
upholds the contrary, are both equally at fault.
Whether they are destructible or not is something
we can never know, though one may hold this

32 COSMOGONY

view and another that. The living and the dead,

the going and the coming, know nothing of each

other's state. Whether destruction awaits the

world or no, why should I trouble my head

about it ? "

* * *

Mr. Kuo of the Ch'i State was very rich, while
Mr. Hsiang of the Sung State was very poor.
The latter travelled from Sung to Ch'i and asked
the other for the secret of his prosperity. Mr.
Kuo told him. "It is because I am a good
thief," he said. " The first year I began to be a
thief, I had just enough. The second year, I had
ample. The third year, I reaped a great harvest.
And, in course of time, I found myself the owner
of whole villages and districts." Mr. Hsiang was
overjoyed ; he understood the word " thief " in
its literal sense, but he did not understand the
true way of becoming a thief. Accordingly, he
climbed over walls and broke into houses, grab-
bing everything he could see or lay hands upon.
But before very long his thefts brought him
into trouble, and he was stripped even of what he
had previously possessed. Thinking that Mr.
Kuo had basely deceived him, Hsiang went to him
with a bitter complaint. "Tell me," said Mr.
Kuo, " how did you set about being a thief ? ':
On learning from Mr. Hsiang what had happened,
he cried out : " Alas and alack ! You have been
brought to this pass because you went the wrong

STEALING FROM HEAVEN AND EARTH 33

way to work. Now let me put you on the right
track. We all know that Heaven has its seasons,
and that earth has its riches. Well, the things
that I steal are the riches of Heaven and earth,
each in their season — the f ertilising rain-water from
the clouds, and the natural products of mountain
and meadow-land. Thus I grow my grain and
ripen my crops, build my walls and construct
my tenements. From the dry land I steal
winged and four-footed game, from the rivers I
steal fish and turtles. There is nothing that I do
not steal. For corn and grain, clay and wood,
birds and beasts, fishes and turtles are all
products of Nature. How can I claim them as
mine ?

It will be observed that Lieh Tzu anticipates here, in a
somewhat different sense, Proudhon's famous paradox :
" La propri6te c'est le vol."

" Yet, stealing in this way from Providence, I
bring on myself no retribution. Gold, jade,
and precious stones, corn, silk stuffs, and all
manner of riches are simply appropriated by men.
How can Providence be said to give them away 1
Yet if we commit a crime in stealing them, who is
there to resent it ? "

Mr. Hsiang, in a state of great perplexity, and
fearing to be led astray a second time by Mr.
Kuo, went off to consult Tung Kuo, a man of
learning. Tung Kuo said to him: "Are you

34 COSMOGONY

not already a thief in respect of your own body ?
You are stealing the harmony of the Yin and the
Yang in order to keep alive and to maintain your
bodily form. How much more, then, are you a
thief with regard to external possessions ! As-
suredly, Heaven and earth cannot be dissociated
from the myriad objects of Nature. To claim
any one of these as your own betokens confusion
of thought. Mr. Kuo's thefts are carried out in
a spirit of justice, and therefore bring no retribu-
tion. But your thefts were carried out in a spirit
of self-seeking and therefore landed you in
trouble. Those who take possession of pro-
perty, whether public or private, are thieves.

By " taking possession of public property," as we have
seen, Lieh Tzu means utilising the products of Nature open
to all — rain and the like.

Those who abstain from taking property, public
or private, are also thieves.

" For no one can help possessing a body, and no one can
help acquiring some property or other which cannot be got
rid of with the best will in the world. Such thefts are un-
conscious thefts."

The great principle of Heaven and earth is to
treat public property as such and private property
as such. Knowing this principle, which of us is a

ALL MEN ARE THIEVES 35

thief, and at the same time which of us is not a
thief ? "

The object of this anecdote is to impress us with the un-
reality of mundane distinctions. Lieh Tzu is not much
interested in the social aspect of the question. He is not an
advocate of communism, nor does he rebel against the
common-sense view that theft is a crime which must be
punished. With him, everything is intended to lead up to
the metaphysical standpoint.

BOOK II

THE YELLOW EMPEROR

The Yellow Emperor sat for fifteen years on the
throne, and rejoiced that the Empire looked up
to him as its head. He was careful of his
physical well-being, sought pleasures for his ears
and eyes, and gratified his senses of smell and
taste. Nevertheless, he grew melancholy in
spirit, his complexion became sallow, and his
sensations became dull and confused. Then,
for a further period of fifteen years, he grieved
that the Empire was in disorder ; he summoned
up all his intelligence, exhausted his resources
of wisdom and strength in trying to rule the
people. But, in spite of all, his face remained
haggard and pale, and his sensations dull and
confused.

" The practice of enlightened virtue will not succeed in
establishing good government, but only disorganise the
spiritual faculties."

Then the Yellow Emperor sighed heavily
and said : " My fault is want of moderation.

36

MISDIRECTED ENERGY 37

The misery I suffer comes from over-attention
to my own self, and the troubles of the Empire
from over-regulation in everything. ' ' Thereupon,
he threw up all his schemes, abandoned his
ancestral palace, dismissed his attendants,
removed all bells and written proclamations,
cut down the delicacies of his cuisine, and retired
to live at leisure in private apartments attached
to the Court. There he fasted in heart, and
brought his body under control.

Fasting in heart means freeing oneself from earthly
desires, after which, says the commentator, the body will
naturally be under control. Actual abstention from food
or other forms of bodily mortification are not intended.
See Musings of a Chinese Mystic, p. 71.

For three months he abstained from personal
intervention in government. Then he fell asleep
in the daytime, and dreamed that he made a
journey to the kingdom of Hua-hsii, situated
I know not how many tens of thousands of miles
distant from the Ch'i State. It was beyond the
reach of ship or vehicle or any mortal foot.
Only the soul could travel so far.

In sleep, the hun or spiritual part of the soul is supposed
by the Chinese to quit the body.

This kingdom was without head or ruler ;
it simply went on of itself. Its people were
without desires or cravings ; they simply fol-

38 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

lowed their natural instincts. They felt neither
joy in life nor abhorrence of death ; thus they
came to no untimely ends. They felt neither
attachment to self nor indifference to others ;
thus they were exempt from love and hatred
alike. They knew neither aversion from one
course nor inclination to another ; hence profit
and loss existed not among them. All were
equally untouched by the emotions of love and
sympathy, of jealousy and fear. Water had
no power to drown them, nor fire to burn ;
cuts and blows caused them neither injury nor
pain, scratching or tickling could not make
them itch. They bestrode the air as though
treading on solid earth ; they were cradled in
space as though resting in a bed. Clouds and
mist obstructed not their vision, thunder-peals
could not stun their ears, physical beauty dis-
turbed not their hearts, mountains and valleys
hindered not their steps. They moved about
like gods.

When the Yellow Emperor awoke from his
dream, he summoned his three Ministers and
told them what he had seen. " For three
months," he said, " I have been living a life
of leisure, fasting in heart, subduing my body,
and casting about in my mind for the true
method of nourishing my own life and regulating
the lives of others. But I failed to discover
the secret.

THE KINGDOM OF HUA-HStJ 39

"It is wrong to nourish one's own life, wrong to regulate
those of others. No attempt to do this by the light of
intelligence can be successful."

Worn out, I fell asleep and dreamed this dream.
Now I know that the Perfect Way is not to be
sought through the senses. This Way I know
and hold within me, yet I cannot impart it to
you.

" If the Way cannot be sought through the senses, it
cannot be communicated through the senses."

For twenty-eight years after this, there was
great orderliness in the Empire, nearly equalling
that in the kingdom of Hua-hsu. And when
the Emperor ascended on high, the people
bewailed him for two hundred years without
intermission.

Lieh Tzu had Lao Shang for his teacher, and
Po Kao Tzu for his friend. When he had fully
mastered the system of these two philosophers,
he rode home again on the wings of the wind.

Cf . Chuang Tzu, ch. 1 : " There was Lieh Tzu again. He
could ride upon the wind, and travel whithersoever he wished,
staying away as long as fifteen days."

Yin Sheng heard of this, and became his
disciple. He dwelt with Lieh Tzu for many
months without visiting his own home. While

40 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

he was with him, he begged to be initiated into
his secret arts. Ten times he asked, and each
time received no answer. Becoming impatient,
Yin Sheng announced his departure, but Lieh Tzii
still gave no sign. So Yin Sheng went away,
but after many months his mind was still un-
settled, so he returned and became his follower
once more. Lieh Tzu said to him : " Why
this incessant going and coming ? " Yin Sheng
replied : " Some time ago, I sought instruction
from you, Sir, but you would not tell me any-
thing. That made me vexed with you. But
now I have got rid of that feeling, and so I
have come again." Lieh Tzii said : " Formerly,
I used to think you were a man of penetration,
and have you now fallen so low ? Sit down,
and I will tell you what I learned from my
Master. After I had served him, and enjoyed
the friendship of Po Kao, for the space of three
years, my mind did not venture to reflect on
right and wrong, my lips did not venture to speak
of profit and loss. Then, for the first time, my
Master bestowed one glance upon me — and that
was all.

"To be in reality entertaining the ideas of profit and loss,
though without venturing to utter them, is a case of hiding
one's resentment and harbouring secret passions ; hence a
mere glance was vouchsafed."

" At the end of five years a change had taken

LEARNING TO TRANSCEND THE BODY 41

place ; my mind was reflecting on right and
wrong, and my lips were speaking of profit and
loss. Then, for the first time, my Master relaxed
his countenance and smiled.

" Right and wrong, profit and loss, are the fixed principles
prevailing in the world of sense. To let the mind reflect on
what it will, to let the lips utter what they please, and not
grudgingly bottle it up in one's breast, so that the internal
and the external may become as one, is still not so good as
passing beyond the bounds of self and abstaining from all
manifestation. This first step, however, pleased the Master
and caused him to give a smile."

" At the end of seven years, there was another
change. I let my mind reflect on what it would,
but it no longer occupied itself with right and
wrong. I let my lips utter whatsoever they
pleased, but they no longer spoke of profit and
loss. Then, at last, my Master led me in to sit
on the mat beside him.

" The question is, how to bring the mind into a state of
calm, in which there is no thinking or mental activity ; how
to keep the lips silent, with only natural inhalation and
exhalation going on. If you give yourself up to mental
perfection, right and wrong will cease to exist ; if the lips
follow their natural law they know not profit or loss. Their
ways agreeing, Master and friend sat side by side with him
on the same seat. That was only as it should be."

"At the end of nine years my mind gave
free rein to its reflections, my mouth free passage
to its speech. Of right and wrong, profit and

42 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

loss, I had no knowledge, either as touching
myself or others. I knew neither that the Master
was my instructor, nor that the other man was
my friend. Internal and External were blended
into Unity. After that, there was no distinction
between eye and ear, ear and nose, nose and
mouth : all were the same. My mind was
frozen, my body in dissolution, my flesh and
bones all melted together. I was wholly un-
conscious of what my body was resting on, or
what was under my feet. I was borne this way
and that on the wind, like dry chaff or leaves
falling from a tree. In fact, I knew not whether
the wind was riding on me or I on the wind.
Now, you have not spent one whole season in
your teacher's house, and yet you have lost
patience two or three times already. Why, at
this rate, the atmosphere will never support
an atom of your body, and even the earth will
be unequal to the weight of one of your limbs !

The only way to etherealise the body being to purge the
mind of its passions.

How can you expect to walk in the void or to

be charioted on the wind ? "

Hearing this, Yin Sheng was deeply ashamed.

He could hardly trust himself to breathe, and

it was long ere he ventured to utter another

word.

* * *

A TAOIST CHARLATAN 43

Mr. Fan had a son named Tzu Hua, who
succeeded in achieving great fame as an ex-
ponent of the black art, and the whole kingdom
bowed down before him. He was in high
favour with the Prince of Chin, taking no office
but standing on a par with the three Ministers
of State. Any one on whom he turned a partial
eye was marked out for distinction ; while those
of whom he spoke unfavourably were forthwith
banished. People thronged his hall in the same
way as they went to Court. Tzu Hua used to
encourage his followers to contend amongst
themselves, so that the clever ones were always
bullying the slow-witted, and the strong riding
rough-shod over the weak. Though this re-
sulted in blows and wounds being dealt before
his eyes, he was not in the habit of troubling
about it. Day and night, this sort of thing
served as an amusement, and practically became
a custom in the State.

One day, Ho Sheng and Tzu Po, two of Fan's
leading disciples, set off on a journey and, after
traversing a stretch of wild country, they put up
for the night in the hut of an old peasant named
Shang Ch'iu K'ai. During the night, the two
travellers conversed together, speaking of Tzu
Hua's reputation and influence, his power over the
fortunes of others, and how he could make the
rich man poor and the poor man rich. Now,
Shang Ch'iu K'ai was living on the border of

44 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

starvation. He had crept round under the
window and overheard this conversation. Ac-
cordingly, he borrowed some provisions and,
shouldering his basket, set off for Tzu Hua's
establishment. This man's followers, however,
were a worldly set, who wore silken garments and
rode in high carriages and stalked about with their
noses in the air. Seeing that Shang Ch'iu K'ai
was advanced in years and deficient in strength,
with a weather-beaten face and clothes of no
particular cut, they one and all despised him.
Soon he became a regular target for their insults
and ridicule, being hustled about and slapped on
the back and what not. Shang Ch'iu K'ai, how-
ever, never showed the least annoyance, and at
last the disciples, having exhausted their wit on
him in this way, grew tired of the fun. So, by way
of a jest, they took the old man with them to the
top of a cliff, and the word was passed round that
whosoever dared to throw himself over would
be rewarded with a hundred ounces of silver.
There was an eager response, and Shang Ch'iu
K'ai, in perfect good faith, was the first to leap
over the edge. And lo ! he was wafted down
to earth like a bird on the wing, not a bone or
muscle of his body being hurt. Mr. Fan's dis-
ciples, regarding this as a lucky chance, were
merely surprised, but not yet moved to great
wonder. Then they pointed to a bend in the
foaming river below, saying: "There is a

A MAN OF TAO 45

precious pearl at the bottom of that river, which
can be had for the diving." Shang Ch'iu K'ai
again acted on their suggestion and plunged in.
And when he came out, sure enough he held a
pearl in his hand.

Then, at last, the whole company began to
suspect the truth, and Tzu Hua gave orders that
an array of costly viands and silken raiment
should be prepared ; then suddenly a great fire
was kindled round the pile. " If you can walk
through the midst of these flames," he said,
"you are welcome to keep what you can get of
these embroidered stuffs, be it much or little, as
a reward." Without moving a muscle of his
face, Shang Ch'iu K'ai walked straight into the
fire, and came back again with his garments
unsoiled and his body unsinged.

Mr. Fan and his disciples now realised that he
was in possession of Tao, and all began to make
their apologies, saying : " We did not know, Sir,
that you had Tao, and were only playing a trick
on you. We insulted you, not knowing that you
were a divine man. You have exposed our
stupidity, our deafness and our blindness. May
we venture to ask what the Great Secret is ? "
" Secret I have none," replied Shang Ch'iu K'ai.
" Even in my own mind I have no clue as to the
real cause. Nevertheless, there is one point in
it all which I must try to explain to you. A
short time ago, Sir, two disciples of yours came

46 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

and put up for the night in my hut. I heard
them extolling the power of Mr. Fan, and how
he was able to make or mar people's fortunes,
making the rich man poor and the poor man rich.
I believed this implicitly, and as the distance was
not very great I came hither. Having arrived,
I unreservedly accepted as true all the statements
made by your disciples, and was only afraid lest
the opportunity might never come of putting
them triumphantly to the proof. I knew not
what part of space my body occupied, nor yet
where danger lurked. My mind was simply One,
and material objects thus offered no resistance.
That is all. But now, having discovered that
your disciples were deceiving me, my inner man
is thrown into a state of doubt and perplexity,
while outwardly my senses of sight and hearing
re-assert themselves. When I reflect that I have
just had a providential escape from being drowned
and burned to death, my heart within me freezes
with horror, and my limbs tremble with fear. I
shall never again have the courage to go near
water or fire."

From that time forth, when Mr. Fan's disciples
happened to meet a beggar or a poor horse-doctor
on the road, so far from jeering at him, they
would actually dismount and offer him a humble
salute.

Tsai Wo heard this story, and told it to Con-
fucius. " Is this so strange to you ? " was the reply.

THE POWER OF FAITH 47

" The man of perfect faith can extend his influence
to inanimate things and disembodied spirits ; he
can move heaven and earth, and fly to the six
cardinal points without encountering any hind-
rance.

Compare the familiar passage in the Bible (Matt. xvii. 20).

His powers are not confined to walking in
perilous places and passing through water and fire.
If Shang Ch'iu K'ai, whose belief was false, found
no obstacle in external matter, how much more
certainly will that be so when both parties are
equally sincere ! Young man, bear this in mind."

In Shang Ch'iu K'ai's case, though he himself was sincere,
his Master Fan, Tzu Hua was merely an impostor.

The Keeper of Animals under King Hsuan, of
the Chou dynasty, had an assistant named Liang
Yang, who was skilled in the management of
wild birds and beasts. When he fed them in
their park-enclosure, all the animals showed
themselves tame and tractable, although they
comprised tigers, wolves, eagles and ospreys.
Male and female freely propagated their kind,
and their numbers multiplied.

The difficulty of getting wild animals to breed in captivity
is well-known to naturalists.

48 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

The different species lived promiscuously to-
gether, yet they never clawed nor bit one another.
The King was afraid lest this man's secret
should die with him, and commanded him to
impart it to the Keeper. So Liang Yang appeared
before the Keeper and said : "I am only a
humble servant, and have really nothing to
impart. I fear the King has been leading you
to expect some mysterious secret. With regard
to my method of feeding tigers, all I have to say
is this : when yielded to, they are pleased ; when
opposed, they are angry. Such is the natural
disposition of all living creatures. But neither
their pleasure nor their anger is manifested with-
out a cause. Both are really excited by oppo-
sition.

Anger directly, pleasure indireotly, owing to the natural
reaction when the opposition is overcome.

"In feeding tigers, then, I avoid giving them
either live animals or whole carcasses, lest in the
former case the act of killing, in the latter the
act of tearing them to pieces, should excite them
to fury. Again, I time their periods of hunger
and repletion, and I gain a full understanding of
the causes of their anger. Tigers are of a different
species from man, but, like him, they are docile
with those who treat them kindly, though they
will show fight when their lives are attacked.

HOW TO TREAT ANIMALS 49

But I do not think of opposing them and thus
provoking their anger ; neither do I humour them
and thus cause them to feel pleased. For this
feeling of pleasure will in time be succeeded by-
anger, just as anger must invariably be succeeded
by pleasure. Neither of these states hits the
proper mean. Hence it is my aim to be neither
antagonistic nor compliant, so that the animals
regard me as one of themselves. Thus it happens
that they walk about the park without regretting
the tall forests and the broad marshes, and rest
in the enclosure without yearning for the lonely
mountains and the dark valleys. Such is the
effect of using one's common sense."

There was once a man, a sailor by profession,
who was very fond of sea-gulls. Every morning
he went into the sea and swam about in their
midst, at which times a hundred gulls and more
would constantly flock about him.

" Creatures are not shy of those whom they feel to be in
mental and bodily harmony with themselves."

One day his father said to him : "lam told that
sea-gulls swim about with you in the water. I
wish you would catch one or two for me to make
tpets of." On the following day, the sailor went
down to the sea as usual, but lo ! the gulls only
wheeled about in the air and would not alight.

4

50 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

" There was disturbance in his mind, accompanied by a
change in his outward demeanour ; thus the birds became
conscious of the fact that he was a human being. How could
their instinct be deceived ? "

Chao Hsiang Tzu led out a company of a
hundred thousand men to hunt in the Central
Mountains. They dropped sparks in the under-
growth, which set fire to the whole forest, and
the glow of the flames was visible for a hundred
miles around. Suddenly a man appeared, emerg-
ing from a rocky cliff,

That is to say, passing miraculously out of the actual stone
itself.

and was seen to hover in the air amidst the flames
and the smoke. Everybody took him for a
disembodied spirit. When the fire had passed,
he walked quietly out, and showed no trace of
having been through the ordeal. Hsiang Tzii
marvelled thereat, and detained him for the
purpose of careful examination. In bodily form
he was undoubtedly a man, possessing the seven
channels of sense, besides which his breathing
and his voice also proclaimed him a man. So
the prince inquired what secret power it was that
enabled him to dwell in rock and to walk through
fire. " What do you mean by rock ? " replied
the man ; " what do you mean by fire ? " Hsiang
Tzii said : " What you just now came out of is

THE MIND RULES THE BODY 51

rock ; what you just now walked through is
fire." ** I know nothing of them," replied the
man.

" It was this extreme of unconsciousness that enabled him
to perform the above feats."

The incident came to the ears of Marquis Wen
of the Wei State, who spoke to Tzii Hsia about it,
saying : " What an extraordinary man this must
be ! " " From what I have heard the Master
say," replied Tzii Hsia, " the man who achieves
harmony with Tao enters into close unison with
external objects, and none of them has the power
to harm or hinder him. Passing through solid
metal or stone, walking in the midst of fire or on
the surface of water— all these things become
possible to him." " Why, my friend," asked the
Marquis, " cannot you do all this ! " " I have
not yet succeeded," said Tzii Hsia, " in cleansing
my heart of impurities and discarding wisdom.
I can only find leisure to discuss the matter in
tentative fashion." M And why," pursued the
Marquis, "does not the Master himself perform
these feats ? " " The Master," replied Tzu Hsia,
" is able to do these things, but he is also able to
refrain from doing them." Which answer hugely
delighted the Marquis.

* * *

There may be similarity in understanding
without similarity in outward form. There may

52 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

also be similarity in form without similarity in
understanding. The Sage embraces similarity
of understanding and pays no regard to similarity
of form. The world in general is attracted by
similarity of form, but remains indifferent to
similarity of understanding. Those creatures
that resemble them in shape they love and
consort with ; those that differ from them in
shape they fear and keep at a distance. The
creature that has a skeleton seven feet long,

The Chinese foot at that time being considerably shorter
than ours.

hands differently shaped from the feet, hair on
its head, and an even set of teeth in its jaws, and
walks erect, is called a man. But it does not
follow that a man may not have the mind of a
brute. Even though this be the case, other men
will still recognise him as one of their own species
in virtue of his outward form. Creatures which
have wings on the back or horns on the head,
serrated teeth or extensile talons, which fly over-
head or run on all fours, are called birds and
beasts. But it does not follow that a bird or a
beast may not have the mind of a man. Yet,
even if this be so, it is nevertheless assigned to
another species because of the difference in form.
P'ao Hsi, Nii Kua, Shen Nung and Hsia Hou
had serpents' bodies, human faces, ox-heads

OUTWARD FORM NO CRITERION 53

and tigers' snouts. Thus, their forms were not
human, yet their virtue was of the saintliest.
Chieh of the Hsia dynasty, Chou of the Yin, Huan
of the Lu State, and Mu of the Ch-'u State, were
in all external respects, as facial appearance and
possession of the seven channels of sense, like
unto other men ; yet they had the minds of savage
brutes. Howbeit, in seeking perfect wisdom,
men attend to the outward form alone, which
will not bring them near to it.

When the Yellow Emperor fought with Yen Ti
on the field of P'an-ch'uan, his vanguard was com-
posed of bears, wolves, panthers, lynxes and
tigers, while his ensign-bearers were eagles, ospreys,
falcons and kites. This was forcible impressment
of animals into the service of man. The Emperor
Yao entrusted K'uei with the regulation of
music.

K'uei was a composite being, half beast, half man, of irre-
proachable virtue. His son, on the other hand, is said to
have had " the heart of a pig." He was insatiably gluttonous,
covetous and quarrelsome.

When the latter tapped the musical stone in
varying cadence, all the animals danced to the
sound of the music. When the strains of the
Shao were heard on the flute, the phoenix itself
flew down to assist. This was the attraction
of animals by the power of music. In what, then,
do the minds of birds and beasts differ from

54 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

the minds of men ? Only the sounds they utter
are different, and the secret by which communica-
tion may be effected is unknown. But the
wisdom and penetration of the Sage are un-
limited : that is why he is able to lead them to
do his bidding. The intelligence of animals is
innate, even as that of man. Their common
desire is for propagation of life, but their instincts
are not derived from any human source. There
is pairing between the male and the female, and
mutual attachment between the mother and her
young. They shun the open plain and keep
to the mountainous parts ; they flee the cold
and make for warmth ; when they settle, they
gather in flocks ; when they travel, they preserve
a fixed order. The young ones are stationed in
the middle, the stronger ones place themselves on
the outside. They show one another the way to
the drinking-places, and call to their fellows
when there is food. In the earliest ages, they
dwelt and moved about in company with man.
It was not until the age of emperors and kings
that they began to be afraid and broke away into
scattered bands. And now, in this final period,
they habitually hide and keep out of man's way
so as to avoid injury at his hands. At the present
day, the Chieh-shih people in the Ear East can
in many cases interpret the language of the
six domestic animals, although they have prob-
ably but an imperfect understanding of it.

MEN AND BRUTES ARE KIN 55

In remote antiquity, there were men of divine
enlightenment who were perfectly acquainted
with the feelings and habits of all living things,
and thoroughly understood the languages of the
various species. The latter assembled at their
bidding, and received the instruction imparted
to them, exactly like human beings. . . . These
sages declared that, in mind and understanding,
there was no wide gulf between any of the living
species endowed with blood and breath. And,
therefor e, knowing that this was so, they neg-
lected or passed over none that came to them
for instruction.

Hui Yang went to visit Prince K'ang of the
Sung State. The Prince, however, stamped his
foot, rasped his throat, and said angrily : " The
things I like are courage and strength. I am
not fond of your good and virtuous people. What
can a stranger like you have to teach me ? "
" I have a secret," replied Hui Yang, " whereby
my opponent, however brave or strong, can be
prevented from harming me either by thrust
or by blow. Would not your Highness care to
know that secret 1 " " Capital ! " exclaimed K'ang ;
" that is certainly something I should like to hear
about." Hui Yang went on : " To render in-
effectual the stabs and blows of one's opponent is
indeed to cover him with shame. But my secret

56 THE YELLOW EMPEROR

is one which will make your opponent, however
brave or strong, afraid to stab or to strike at
all ! His being afraid, however, does not always
imply that he has not the will to do so. Now, my
secret method operates so that even the will
is absent. Not having the will to harm, how-
ever, does not necessarily connote the desire to
love and to do good. But my secret is one
whereby every man, woman and child in the
Empire shall be inspired with the friendly desire
to love and do good to one another ! This is
something that transcends all social distinctions,
and is much better than the mere possession of
courage and strength. Has your Highness no
mind to acquire such a secret as this ? " "Nay,"
said the Prince, " I am anxious to learn it. What
is the secret, pray ? " " Nothing else," replied
Hui Yang, " than the teachings of Confucius and
Mo Tzii.

A famous philosopher of the fourth century B.C., who
propounded, chiefly on utilitarian grounds, the doctrine of
universal love."

Neither of these two men possessed any land,
and yet they were princes ; they held no official
rank, and yet they were leaders. All the in-
habitants of the Empire, old and young, used to
crane their necks and stand on tiptoe to catch a
glimpse of them. For it was their object to bring

THE GREAT SECRET 57

peace and happiness to all. Now, your High-
ness is lord of ten thousand chariots.

A conventional way of saying that Sung was a feudal State
of the first class.

If you are sincere in your purpose, all the
people within the four borders of your realm
will be made happy, and the fame of your virtue
will far exceed that of Confucius or of Mo Tzu."

They not having enjoyed the advantage of ruling over a
large State.

The Prince of Sung found himself at loss for an
answer, and Hui Yang quickly withdrew. Then
the Prince turned to his courtiers and said : "A
forcible argument ! This stranger has carried
me away by his eloquence."

BOOK III

DREAMS

In the time of King Mu of Chou, there was a
magician who came from a kingdom in the far
west. He could pass through fire and water,
penetrate metal and stone, overturn mountains
and make rivers flow backwards, transplant whole
towns and cities, ride on thin air without falling,
encounter solid bodies without being obstructed.
There was no end to the countless variety of
changes and transformations which he could
effect ; and, besides changing the external form,
he could also spirit away men's internal cares.
King Mu revered him as a god, and served
him like a prince. He set aside for his use a
spacious suite of apartments, regaled him with
the daintiest of food, and selected a number of
singing-girls for his express gratification. The
magician, however, condemned the King's palace
as mean, the cooking as rancid, and the concu-
bines as too ugly to live with. So King Mu had
a new building erected to please him. It was
built entirely of bricks and wood, and gorgeously

58

A PALACE OF DELIGHT 59

decorated in red and white, no skill being spared
in its construction. The five royal treasuries were
empty by the time that the new pavilion was
complete. It stood six thousand feet high, over-
topping Mount Chung-nan, and it was called
Touch-the-sky Pavilion. Then the King pro-
ceeded to fill it with maidens, selected from Cheng
and Wei, of the most exquisite and delicate beauty.
They were anointed with fragrant perfumes, pro-
vided with jewelled hairpins and earrings, and
arrayed in the finest silks, with costly satin trains.
Their faces were powdered, and their eyebrows
pencilled, their girdles were studded with precious
stones, and sweet scents were wafted abroad
wherever they went. Ravishing music was
played to the honoured guest by the Imperial
bands ; several times a month he was presented
with fresh jewelled raiment ; every day he had
set before him some new and delicious food.

The magician could not well refuse to take
up his abode in this palace of delight. But he
had not dwelt there very long before he invited
the King to accompany him on a jaunt. So
the King clutched the magician's sleeve, and
soared up with him higher and higher into the
sky, until at last they stopped, and lo I they had
reached the magician's own palace. This palace
was built with beams of gold and silver, and
incrusted with pearls and jade. It towered
high above the region of clouds and rain, and

60 DREAMS

the foundations whereon it rested were unknown.
It appeared like a stupendous cloud-mass to
the view. The sights and sounds it offered to
eye and ear, the scents and flavours which
abounded there, were such as exist not within
mortal ken. The King verily believed that he
was in the Halls of Paradise, tenanted by God
Himself, and that he was listening to the mighty
music of the spheres. He gazed at his own
palace on the earth below, and it seemed to him
no better than a rude pile of clods and brushwood.
The King would gladly have stayed in this
place for decade after decade, without a thought
for his own country. But the magician invited
him to make another journey, and in the new
region they came to, neither sun nor moon
could be seen in the heavens above, nor any
rivers or seas below. The King's eyes were
dazed by the quality of the light, and he lost
the power of vision ; his ears were stunned by
the sounds that assailed them, and he lost the
faculty of hearing. The framework of his bones
and his internal organs were thrown out of gear
and refused to function. His thoughts were in
a whirl, his intellect became clouded, and he
begged the magician to take him back again.

" This was the region of the Great Void, where all is dim
and blurred, assuredly not meant to be traversed by the
ordinary man. The dizziness of brain and eye was the
effect of Spontaneity."

THE UNREALITY OP PLEASURE 61

Thereupon, the magician gave him a shove,
and the King experienced a sensation of falling
through space. . . .

When he awoke to consciousness, he found
himself sitting on his throne just as before,
with the selfsame attendants round him. He
looked at the wine in front of him, and saw
that it was still full of sediment ; he looked at
the viands, and found that they had not yet
lost their freshness. He asked where he had
come from, and his attendants told him that
he had only been sitting quietly there. This
threw King Mu into a reverie, and it was three
months before he was himself again. Then he
made further inquiry, and asked the magician
to explain what had happened. " Your Majesty
and I," replied the magician, " were only
wandering about in the spirit, and, of course,
our bodies never moved at all. What essential
difference is there between that sky-palace we
dwelt in and your Majesty's palace on earth,
between the spaces we travelled through and
your Majesty's own park ?

Looked at from the standpoint of the Absolute, both
palaces were unreal.

During your retirement from public affairs,
you have been in a perpetual state of doubt as
to the reality of your experience. But in a

62 DREAMS

universe where changes are everlastingly in
progress, and fast and slow are purely relative
conceptions, how can the Ideal ever be fully
attained ? "

The sky-palace was only some degrees finer than the
Kong's, just as the King's palace was only some degrees finer
than the hovel of a peasant. To strive for something that
shall satisfy man's desires and aspirations once and for all
is only labour lost. The story continues with an account
of the King's marvellous journey to the West. But though
he drained the cup of pleasure to the dregs, the upshot of it
all was that he never truly attained to Tao. We may seek
the moral in a saying of Lao Tzu. : " Without going out of
doors, one may know the whole world ; without looking out
of window, one may see the Way of Heaven. The farther
one travels, the less one may know."

Lao Ch'eng Tzii went to learn magic from
the venerable Yin Wen. After a period of three
years, having obtained no communication, he
humbly asked permission to go home. Yin
Wen bowed, and led him into the inner apart-
ment. There, having dismissed his attendants,
he spoke to him as follows : " Long ago, when
Lao Tzu was setting out on his journey to the
West, he addressed me and said : ' All that
has the breath of life, all that possesses bodily
form, is mere Illusion. The point at which
creation begins, the change effected by the Dual
Principles — these are called respectively Life
and Death. That which underlies the manifold

DEATH IS EVOLUTION 63

workings of Destiny is called Evolution ; that
which produces and transforms bodily substance
is called Illusion. The Creator's ingenuity is
mysterious, His operations secret and profound.
In truth, He is inexhaustible and eternal.

The " Creator," of course, is Tao ; but how widely the
conception of Tao differs from that of a personal God may
be seen from the commentator's note : " How should the
Creator possess a conscious mind ? It is His spontaneity
that constitutes the mystery. Essential matter unites with
extensive energy to become a bodily substance, which follows
the line of evolution and passes away, but does not, on that
account, relapse into nothingness."

The ingenuity of that which causes material
form is patent to the eye, and its workings are
shallow. Therefore it arises anon, and anon it
is destroyed.' Only one who knows that Life
is really Illusion, and that Death is really
Evolution, can begin to learn magic from me.
You and I are both illusions. How are we,
then, to make a study of the subject ? "

" If a person wishes to make a study of illusion, in spite of
the fact that his own body is an illusion, we are reduced to
the absurdity of an illusion studying an illusion."

Lao Ch'eng Tsii returned home, and for three
months pondered deeply over the words of the
Venerable Yin Wen. Subsequently, he had
the power of appearing or disappearing at will ;
he could reverse the order of the four seasons,

64 DREAMS

produce thunderstorms in winter and ice in
summer, make flying things creep and creeping
things fly. But to the end of his days he never
made any public display of his art, so that the
secret was not handed down to after generations.

The Master Lieh Tzu. said : " A dream is
the meeting of minds ; an event in our waking
consciousness is the coming together of sensible
substances. Hence our feelings by day and
our dreams by night are the meetings of mind
with mind and of substance with substance.
It follows that if we can concentrate the mind
in abstraction, our feelings and our dreams
will vanish of themselves. With those who
rely on their waking perceptions you cannot
argue. Those who put faith in dreams do not
understand the alternating processes of evolution.

This refers to a previous passage, omitted in the present
selection. Contrary to the received opinion of his own day,
Lieh Tzu held that dreams were not just arbitrary mani-
festations portending future events, but the effects of regular
antecedent causes, without any further significance. They
are produced by certain processes of the mind, and if these
processes can be checked (as Lieh Tzu believes they can) by
means of abstraction, dreaming will also cease.

'The pure men of old passed their waking
existence in self-oblivion, and slept without

KING BY NIGHT, SLAVE BY DAY 65

dreams.' How can this be dismissed as an
empty phrase ? "

Mr. Yin of Chou was the owner of a large
estate who harried his servants unmercifully,
and gave them no rest from morning to night.
There was one old servant in particular whose
physical strength had quite left him, yet his
master worked him all the harder. All day
long he was groaning as he went about his work,
and when night came he was reeling with fatigue
and would sleep like a log. His spirit was
then free to wander at will, and every night
he dreamt that he was a king, enthroned in
authority over the multitude, and controlling
the affairs of the whole State. He took his
pleasure in palaces and belvederes, following
his own fancy in everything, and his happiness
was beyond compare. But when he awoke,
he was a servant once more. To some one who
condoled with him on his hard lot the old man
replied : " Human life may last a hundred
years, and the whole of it is equally divided
into nights and days. In the daytime I am
only a slave, it is true, and my misery cannot
be gainsaid. But by night I am a king, and
my happiness is beyond compare. So what
have I to grumble at ? "

Now, Mr. Yin's mind was full of worldly

5

66 DREAMS

cares, and he was always thinking with anxious
solicitude about the affairs of his estate. Thus
he was wearing out mind and body alike, and
at night he also used to fall asleep utterly ex-
hausted. Every night he dreamt that he was
another man's servant, running about on menial
business of every description, and subjected to
every possible kind of abuse and ill-treatment.
He would mutter and groan in his sleep, and
obtained no relief until morning came. This
state of things at last resulted in a serious illness,
and Mr. Yin besought the advice of a friend.
" Your station in life," his friend said, "is a
distinguished one, and you have wealth and
property in abundance. In these respects you
are far above the average. If at night you
dream that you are a servant and exchange
ease for affliction, that is only the proper balance
in human destiny. What you want is that
your dreams should be as pleasant as your
waking moments. But that is beyond your
power to compass." On hearing what his
friend said, Mr. Yin lightened his servant's toil,
and allowed his own mental worry to abate ;
whereupon his malady began to decrease in
proportion.

A man was gathering fuel in the Cheng State
when he fell in with a deer that had been startled

DREAMS WITHIN DREAMS 67

from its usual haunts. He gave chase, and
succeeded in killing it. He was overjoyed at his
good luck ; but, for fear of discovery, he hastily
concealed the carcass in a dry ditch, and covered
it up with brushwood. Afterwards, he forgot
the spot where he had hidden the deer, and
finally became convinced that the whole affair
was only a dream. He told the story to people
he met as he went along ; and one of those who
heard it, following the indications given, went
and found the deer. On reaching home with his
booty, this man made the following statement to
his wife : " Once upon a time," he said, " a
wood-cutter dreamt that he had got a deer, but
couldn't remember the place where he had put
it. Now I have found the deer, so it appears that
his dream was a true dream." " On the con-
trary," said his wife, "it is you who must have
dreamt that you met a wood-cutter who had
caught a deer. Here you have a deer, true
enough. But where is the wood-cutter ? It is
evidently your dream that has come true." " I
have certainly got a deer," replied her husband ;
"so what does it matter to us whether it was
his dream or mine ? "

Meanwhile, the wood-cutter had gone home,
not at all disgusted at having lost the deer.

For he thought the whole thing must have been a dream.
But the same night, he saw in a dream the place

68 DREAMS

where he had really hidden it, and he also dreamt
of the man who had taken it. So, the next
morning, in accordance with his dream, he went
to seek him out in order to recover the deer. A
quarrel ensued, and the matter was finally
brought before the magistrate, who gave judg-
ment in these terms : " You," he said to the
wood-cutter, " began by really killing a deer, but
wrongly thought it was a dream. Then you
really dreamt that you had got the deer, but
wrongly took the dream to be a reality. The
other man really took your deer, which he is now
disputing with you. His wife, on the other
hand, declares that he saw both man and deer in
a dream, so that nobody can be said to have
killed the deer at all. Meanwhile, here is the
deer itself in court, and you had better divide it
between you."

The case was reported to the Prince of the
Cheng State, who said : " Why, the magistrate
must have dreamt the whole thing himself ! "
The question was referred to the Prime Minister,
but the latter confessed himself unable to dis-
entangle the part that was a dream from the
part that was not a dream. " If you want to
distinguish between waking and dreaming," he
said, " you would have to go back to the Yellow
Emperor or Confucius. But both these sages are
dead, and there is nobody now alive who can
draw any such distinction.

A STRANGE DISEASE 69

Of course, it is implied that there is no real distinction
between the two.

So the best thing you can do is to uphold the
magistrate's decision,"

Yang-li Hua-tzii, of the Sung State, was afflicted
in middle age by the disease of amnesia. Anything
he received in the morning he had forgotten by the
evening ; anything he gave away in the evening
he had forgotten the next morning. Out-of-doors,
he forgot to walk ; indoors, he forgot to sit down.
At any given moment, he had no recollection of
what had just taken place ; and a little later on,
he could not even recollect what had happened
then. All his family were perfectly disgusted
with him. Fortune-tellers were summoned, but
their divinations proved unsuccessful ; wizards
were sought out, but their exorcisms were ineffec-
tual ; physicians were called in, but their remedies
were of no avail. At last, a learned professor
from the Lu State volunteered his services,
declaring that he could effect a cure. Hua-tzii's
wife and family immediately offered him half
their landed property if only he would tell them
how to set to work. The professor replied :
" This is a case which cannot be dealt with by
means of auspices and diagrams ; the evil cannot
be removed by prayers and incantations, nor
successfully combated by drugs and potions.

70 DREAMS

What I shall try to do is to influence his mind
and turn the current of this thoughts ; in that
way a cure is likely to be brought about."

Accordingly, the experiment was begun. The
professor exposed his patient to cold, so that he
was forced to beg for clothes ; subjected him to
hunger, so that he was fain to ask for food ; left
him in darkness, so that he was obliged to search
for light. Soon, he was able to report progress to
the sons of the house, saying gleefully : " The
disease can be checked. But the methods I shall
employ have been handed down as a secret in
my family, and cannot be made known to the
public. All attendants must, therefore, be dis-
missed, and I must be shut up alone with my
patient." The professor was allowed to have
his way, and for the space of seven days no one
knew what was going on in the sick man's chamber.
Then, one fine morning, the treatment came to an
end, and, wonderful to relate, the disease of so
many years' standing had entirely disappeared !

No sooner had Hua-tzii regained his senses,
however, than he flew into a great rage, drove
his wife out of doors, beat his sons, and, snatching
up a spear, hotly pursued the professor through
the town . On being arrested and asked to explain
his conduct, this is what he said : " Lately, when
I was steeped in forget fulness, my senses were
so benumbed that I was quite unconscious of the
existence of the outer world. But now I have

ABSENT-MINDEDNESS A BLESSING 71

been brought suddenly to a perception of the
events of half a lifetime. Preservation and
destruction, gain and loss, sorrow and joy, love
and hate have begun to throw out their myriad
tentacles to invade my peace ; and these emotions
will, I fear, continue to keep my mind in the
state of turmoil that I now experience. Oh !
if I could but recapture a short moment of that
blessed oblivion ! "

" If this is the sentiment of a man whose mental infirmity
bears some resemblance to the Highest Principle [Tao], how
much stronger will it be on entering the realm of the Absolute
itself ! "

There was once a man who, though born in
Yen, was brought up in Ch'u, and it was only in
his old age that he returned to his native country.

Yen was the northernmost State of ancient China, while
Ch'u was bounded by the left bank of the Yangtsze.

On the way thither, as they were passing
through the Chin State, his fellow-travellers
played a practical joke on him. They pointed
to the city and said: "Here is the capital
of the Yen State ; " whereupon the old man
flushed with excitement. Pointing out a certain
shrine, they told him that it was his own village
altar, and he heaved a deep sigh. They showed
him a house, and said: "This is where your

72 BREAMS

ancestors lived ; " and the tears welled up in his
eyes. Finally, they brought him in front of a
mound and said : " This is the tomb where your
ancestors lie buried." The old man could control
himself no longer, and wept aloud. But his
fellow-travellers burst into roars of laughter.
" We have been hoaxing you," they cried ; this
is only the Chin State." Their victim was greatly
mortified ; and when they arrived at their
journey's end, and he really did see before him
the city and altars of Yen, with the actual abode
and tombs of his ancestors, his emotion was
much less acute.

BOOK IV

CONFUCIUS

A high official from Shang paid a visit to Con-
fucius. " You are a sage, are you not ? " he
inquired. " A sage ! " replied Confucius. " How-
could I venture to think so ? I am only a man
of extensive learning and moral culture." The
Minister then asked : " Were the Three Kings
sages

? »

The Three Kings, in this particular passage, are probably
T'ang, surnamed " The Completer " or " The Successful," who
founded the Shang dynasty, B.C. 1766, and the two founders
of the Chou dynasty, Wen and Wu.

" The Three Kings," replied Confucius, " were
great in the exercise of wisdom and courage. I
do not know, however, that they were sages."
" What of the Five Emperors ? Were they not
sages ? "

Shao Hao, Chuan Hsu, Yao, Shun, and the Great Yii.
The last-named came to the throne in 2205 B.o.

73

74 CONFUCIUS

" The Five Emperors excelled in the exercise of
altruism and righteousness. I do not know that
they were sages." " And the Three Sovereigns :
surely they were sages ? "

The Tliree Sovereigns always denote the legendary rulers
Fu Hsi, Shen Nung and the Yellow Emperor.

"The Three Sovereigns excelled in the virtues
that were suited to their age. But whether they
were sages or no I really cannot say."

" The wide learning of Confucius, the warlike prowess of
T'ang and Wu, the humility and self-abnegation of Yao and
Shun, the rude simplicity of Fu Hsi and Shen Nung, simply
represent the ordinary activities of the sage who accommo-
dates himself to the necessities of the world he lives in. They
are not the qualities which make them sages. Those qualities
are truly such as neither word nor deed can adequately
express."

"Why, who is there, then," cried the Minister,
much astonished, " that is really a sage ? " The
expression of Confucius' countenance changed,
and he replied after a pause: "Among the
people of the West a true sage dwells. He
governs not, yet there is no disorder. He speaks
not, yet he is naturally trusted. He makes no
reforms, yet right conduct is spontaneous and
universal. So great and incomprehensible is he
that the people can find no name to call him by.
I suspect that this man is a sage, but whether in

A TRUE SAGE IN THE WEST 75

truth he is a sage or is not a sage I do not
know."

The early Jesuit missionaries saw in the above an allusion
to Jesus Christ. But (apart from other considerations) it
is almost certain that the present work had taken definite
shape before the Christian era.

The Minister from Shang meditated awhile in
silence. Then he said to himself : " Confucius
is making a fool of me ! "

* * *

When the Master Lieh Tzu settled down in
Nan-kuo the number of those who sought him out
could not be reckoned, though one were to count
all day. Lieh Tzu, however, was unaffected
thereby, and every morning would hold dis-
cussions with them, the fame of which spread
far and wide.

Nan-kuo Tzu was his next-door neighbour,
but for twenty years no visit passed between
them, and when they met in the street they
made as though they had not seen each other.

" There was a mysterious harmony between their doctrines,
and therefore they arrived at old age without having had
any mutual intercourse." Nan-kuo Tzu means simply " the
Philosopher of Nan-kuo."

The followers and disciples of Lieh Tzu felt
convinced that there was enmity between their
Master and Nan-kuo Tzu ; and at last, one who

76 CONFUCIUS

had come from the Ch'u State spoke to Lieh Tzu
about it, saying: "How comes it, Sir, that
you and Nan-kuo Tzu are enemies? " " Nan-
kuo Tzu," replied the Master, "has the appear-
ance of fullness, but his mind is a blank.

By no means a term of disparagement, in the mouth of a
Taoist.

His ears do not hear, his eyes do not see, his
mouth does not speak, his mind is devoid of know-
ledge, his body free from agitation. What would
be the object of visiting him ? However, we will
try, and you shall accompany me thither to see."
Accordingly, forty of the disciples went with him
to call on Nan-kuo Tzu, who turned out to be a
repulsive-looking creature.

Taoist writers seem to delight in attributing ugliness and
deformity to their sages, no doubt as a sort of foil or set-off
to their inward grandeur.

He made no show of receiving his guests, but
only gazed blankly at Lieh Tzu. Body and soul
seemed not to belong together, and to be unable
to respond to the stimuli of the external world.

" The soul had subjugated the body. The mind being
void of sense-impressions, the countenance remained motion-
less. Hence it seemed as if there were no co-operation
between the two. How could they respond to external
stimuli ? "

BLANKNESS OF MIND 77

Suddenly, Nan-kuo Tzu singled out the hinder-
most row of Lieh Tzu's disciples, and began to
talk to them quite pleasantly and simply, though
in the tone of a superior.

"Fraternising with the hindmost row, he recognised no
distinctions of rank or standing ; meeting a sympathetic in-
fluence, and responding thereto, he did not allow his mind to
be occupied with the external."

The disciples were astonished at this, and when
they got home again, all wore a puzzled expression.
Their Master Lieh Tzu said to them : " He who
has reached the stage of thought is silent. He
who has attained to perfect knowledge is also
silent. He who uses silence in lieu of speech
really does speak. He who for knowledge sub-
stitutes blankness of mind really does know.
Without words and speaking not, without know-
ledge and knowing not, he really speaks and
really knows. Saying nothing and knowing
nothing, there is in reality nothing that he does
not say, nothing that he does not know. This
is how the matter stands, and there is nothing
further to be said. Why are you thus astonished
without cause ? "

Lung Shu said to Wen Chih :

. " Wen Chih lived in the time of the Six States, and acted aa
physician to Prince Wei of Ch'i [378-333 B.C.]. Another

78 CONFUCIUS

account says that he was an able physician of the Sung State
in the ■ Spring and Autumn ' period, and that he cured
Prince Wen of Ch'i by making him angry, whereupon his
sickness vanished."

" You are the master of cunning arts. I have
a disease. Can you cure it, Sir ? " "So far,"
replied Wen Chih, "you have only acquainted
me with your desire. Please let me know first
the symptoms of your disease." "I hold it no
honour," said Lung Shu, "to be praised in my
native village, nor do I consider it a disgrace to
be decried in my native State. Gain excites in
me no joy, and loss no sorrow. I look upon life
in the same light as death, upon riches in the
same light as poverty, upon my fellow-men as so
many swine, and upon myself as I look upon my
fellow-men. I dwell in my home as though it were
a mere caravanserai, and regard my native district
with no more feeling than I would a barbarian
State. Afflicted as I am in these various ways,
honours and rewards fail to rouse me, pains and
penalties to overawe me, good or bad fortune to
influence me, joy or grief to move me. Thus I
am incapable of serving my sovereign, of associat-
ing with my friends and kinsmen, of directing my
wife and children, or of controlling my servants
and retainers.

"Men are controlled by external influences in so far as their
minds are open to impressions of good and evil, and their
bodies are sensitive to injury or the reverse. But one who

DIVINE ENLIGHTENMENT 79

is able to discern a connecting unity in the most multiform
diversity will surely, in his survey of the universe, be uncon-
scious of the differences between positive and negative."

What disease is this, and what remedy is there
that will cure it ? "

Wen Chih replied by asking Lung Shu to stand
with his back to the light, while he himself faced
the light and looked at him intently. " Ah ! "
said he after a while, "I see that a good square
inch of your heart is hollow. You are within an
ace of being a true sage. Six of the orifices in
your heart are open and clear, and only the seventh
is blocked up.

It was an ancient belief that the sage had seven orifices
in his heart " (the seat of the understanding).

This, however, is doubtless due to the fact that
you are mistaking for a disease that which is
really divine enlightenment. It is a case in which
my shallow art is of no avail."

Pu-tse, in the Cheng State, was rich in wise
men, and Tung-li in men of administrative talent.
Among the vassals of Pu-tse was a certain Po
Feng Tzu, who happened to travel through Tung-
li and had a meeting with Teng Hsi.

A noted sophist of the sixth century B.C.

80 CONFUCIUS

The latter cast a glance at his followers, and
asked them, with a smile : " Would you like to see
me have some sport with this stranger ? " They
understood what he would be at, and assented.
Teng Hsi then turned to Po Feng Tzii. "Are
you acquainted with the true theory of Susten-
tation ? " he inquired. " To receive sustenance
from others, through inability to support oneself,
places one in the category of dogs and swine. It
is man's prerogative to give sustenance to other
creatures, and to use them for his own purposes.
That you and your fellows are provided with
abundant food and comfortable clothing is due to
the Government. Young and old, you herd to-
gether, and are penned up like cattle destined for
the shambles : in what respect are you to be
distinguished from dogs and swine ? "

Po Feng Tzu made no reply, but one of his
company, disregarding the rules of precedence,
stepped forward and said : " Has your Excellency
never heard of the variety of craftsmen in Ch'i
and Lu ? Some are skilled potters and carpenters,
others are clever workers in metal and leather ;
there are good musicians, trained scribes and
accountants, military experts and men learned in
the ritual of ancestor- worship . All kinds of crafts-
manship are there fully represented. Now, if
there were no division of ranks and duties, mutual
co-operation would be impossible. Those of
higher social standing are lacking in technical

CO-OPERATION IN THE STATE 81

knowledge, those who are employed by them
are lacking in power. Only when there is a com-
bination of technical knowledge and power can
co-operative service exist.

Chih (knowledge) and ning (power) have their modern
equivalents in " skilled labour " and " capital," respectively.

It is really we who may be said to employ the
Government authorities. Why then should you
pity us 1 "

Teng Hsi could think of nothing to say in reply.
He made a sign to his disciples and retreated.

BOOK V

THE QUESTIONS OF T'ANG

T'ang of Yin questioned Hsia Ko, saying : "In
the beginnings of antiquity, did individual things
exist ! "

" He suspected that there was only Chaos, and nothing
more."

" If things did not exist then," replied Hsia Ko,
" how could they be in existence now ? Or will
the men of future ages be right in denying the
existence of things at the present time ? "

" Things in that case," pursued T'ang, " have
no before nor after ? "

Hsia Ko replied : " To the beginning and end
of things there is no precise limit. Beginning
may be end, and end may be beginning. How
can we conceive of any fixed period to either ?

" That which we call an end at the present moment may
be the beginning of a new thing, and that which we call a
beginning may, contrariwise, be the end of something. End
and beginning succeed one another until at last they cannot
be distinguished."

82

THE ANTINOMY OF SPACE 83

But when it comes to something outside matter
in space, or anterior to events in time, our know-
ledge fails us."

" Then, upwards and downwards and in every
direction space is a finite quantity ! "

Ko replied : " I do not know."

" It was not so much that he did not know as that it is
unknowable."

T'ang asked the question again with more
insistence, and Ko said : "It may be that space
is infinite, or it may be that it is limited. How
can I tell ? But beyond infinity there must again
exist non-infinity, and within the unlimited
again that which is not unlimited.

Lieh Tzu means that in this universe of relativity there
must be contraries, even to a negative. We are only brought
back, however, to our starting-point, for, as the commentator
points out, that which is not infinite and not unlimited really
stands for that which is finite and limited.

It is this consideration— that infinity must be

succeeded by non-infinity, and the unlimited by

the not-unlimited— that enables me to apprehend

the infinity and unlimited extent of space, but

does not allow me to conceive of its being finite

and limited."

* * *

T'ang continued his inquiries, saying : " What
is there beyond the Four Seas ? "

84 THE QUESTIONS OF T'ANG

That is, the inhabited world as known to the Chinese.

Ko replied : " Just what there is here in the
province of Ch'i."

"How can you prove that ? " asked T'ang.

" When travelling eastwards," said Ko, " I
came to the land of Ying, where the inhabitants
were nowise different from those in this part
of the country. I inquired about the countries
east of Ying, and found that they, too, were
similar to their neighbour. Travelling west-
wards, I came to Pin, where the inhabitants
were similar to our own countrymen. I inquired
about the countries west of Pin, and found that
they were again similar to Pin. That is how I
know that the regions within the Four Seas, the
Four Wildernesses and the Four Uttermost Ends
of the Earth are nowise different from the country
we ourselves inhabit. Thus, the lesser is always
enclosed by a greater, without ever reaching an
end. Heaven and earth, which enclose the
myriad objects of creation, are themselves en-
closed in some outer shell.

" That which contains heaven and earth is the Great
Void."

Enclosing heaven and earth and the myriad
objects within them, this outer shell is infinite
and immeasurable. How do we know but that
there is some mightier universe in existence

AN EXPLANATORY MYTH 85

outside our own ? That is a question to which we
can give no answer.

" Heaven and earth, then, are themselves only
material objects, and therefore imperfect. Hence
it is that Nii Kua of old fashioned many-coloured
blocks of stone to repair the defective parts.

"Nii Kua, being a divine man, was able to refine and
extract the essence of the five constituents of matter."

He cut off the legs of the Ao and used them
to support the four corners of the heavens.

This Chinese " Atlas " was a gigantic sea-turtle.

Later on, Kung Kung fought with Chuan Hsu
for the throne, and, blundering in his rage against
Mount Pu-chou, he snapped the pillar which
connects Heaven and earth.

At the north-western corner.

That is why Heaven dips downwards to the
north-west, so that sun, moon and stars travel
towards that quarter. The earth, on the other
hand, is now not large enough to fill up the
south-east, so that all rivers and streams roll in
that direction."

An ingenious theory to account for the apparent westward

86 THE QUESTIONS OF T'ANG

revolution of the heavenly bodies, as also for the easterly
trend of the great Chinese rivers.

The two mountains T'ai-hsing and Wang-wu,
which cover an area of 700 square li, and rise
to an enormous altitude, originally stood in the
south of the Chi district and north of Ho-yang.
The Simpleton of the North Mountain, an old
man of ninety, dwelt opposite these mountains,
and was vexed in spirit because their northern
flanks blocked the way to travellers, who had to
go all the way round. So he called his family
together, and broached a plan. " Let us," he
said, "put forth our utmost strength to clear
away this obstacle, and cut right through the
mountains until we come to Han-yin. What say
you ? " They all assented except his wife,
who made objections and said : " My goodman
has not the strength to sweep away a dunghill,
let alone two such mountains as T'ai-hsing and
Wang-wu. Besides, where will you put all the
earth and stones that you dig up ? " The others
replied that they would throw them on the
promontory of P'o-hai. So the old man, followed
by his son and grandson, sallied forth with their
pickaxes, and the three of them began hewing away
at the rocks, and cutting up the soil, and carting
it away in baskets to the promontory of P'o-hai.
A widowed woman who lived near had a little

MOVING MOUNTAINS 87

boy who, though he was only just shedding his
milk teeth, came skipping along to give them
what help he could. Engrossed in their toil,
they never went home except once at the turn
of the season.

The Wise Old Man of the River-bend burst out
laughing and urged them to stop. " Great indeed
is your witlessness ! " he said. " With the poor
remaining strength of your declining years you
will not succeed in removing a hair's breadth of
the mountain, much less the whole vast mass of
rock and soil." With a sigh, the Simpleton of
the North Mountain replied : " Surely it is you
who are narrow-minded and unreasonable. You
are not to be compared with the widow's son,
despite his puny strength. Though I myself
must die, I shall leave a son behind me, and
through him a grandson. That grandson will
beget sons in his turn, and those sons will also
have sons and grandsons . With all this posterity,
my line will not die out, while on the other hand
the mountain will receive no increment or addi-
tion. Why then should I despair of levelling it
to the ground at last ? " The Wise Old Man of
the River -bend had nothing to say in reply.

One of the serpent-brandishing deities heard of
the undertaking and, fearing that it might never
be finished, went and told God Almighty, who
was touched by the old man's simple faith, and
commanded the two sons of K'ua 0 to transport

88 THE QUESTIONS OF T'ANG

the mountains, one to the extreme north-east,
the other to the southern corner of Yung.

In the south-west. That is, as far apart as possible.
K'ua O was apparently a god of strength.

Ever since then, the region lying between Chi
in the north and Han in the south has been an
unbroken plain.

Roughly, the modern province of Honan.

* * *

Kung-hu of Lu and Ch'i-ying of Chao both fell
ill at the same time, and called in the aid of the
great Pien-ch'iao.

A famous physician of the fifth century b.o.

Pien-ch'iao cured them both, and when they
were well again he told them that the malady
they had been suffering from was one that attacked
the internal organs from without, and for that
reason was curable by the application of vegetable
and mineral drugs. " But," he added, " each of
you is also the victim of a congenital disease,
which has grown along with the body itself.
Would you like me now to grapple with this ? "
They said, " Yes ; " but asked to hear his
diagnosis first." Pien-ch'iao turned to Kung-hu.
" Your mental powers," he said, " are strong, but

AN EXCHANGE OF HEARTS 89

your character is weak. Hence, though fruitful
in plans, you are lacking in decision. Ch'i-ying's
mental powers, on the other hand, are weak,
while his character is strong. Hence there is
want of forethought, and he is placed at a disad-
vantage by the narrowness of his aim. Now, if
I can effect an exchange of hearts between you,
the good will be equally balanced in both."

That is, Kung-hu, who has the weaker character, will get
weaker brain-power to match, while Ch'i-ying, with the
stronger will, receives a stronger mind to direct it. Though
it may be that Ch'i-ying has the best of the bargain, each
man, under the new arrangement, will at any rate be perfectly
well balanced. The heart, as we have seen, was regarded as
the seat of the mental faculties.

So saying, Pien-ch'iao administered to each
of them a potion of medicated wine, which
threw them into a death-like trance lasting
three days.

A striking proof of the knowledge and practical application
of anaesthetics at a very early date.

Then, making an incision in their breasts,
he took out each man's heart and placed it
in the other's body, poulticing the wounds with
herbs of marvellous efficacy.

When the two men regained consciousness,
they looked exactly the same as before ; and,
taking their leave, they returned home. Only
it was Kung-hu who went to Ch'i-ying's house,

90 THE QUESTIONS OF T'ANG

where Ch'i-ying's wife and children naturally
did not recognise him, while Ch'i-ying went
to Kung-hu's house and was not recognised
either. This led to a lawsuit between the two
families, and Pien-ch'iao was called in as ar-
bitrator. On his explaining how the matter
stood, peace was once more restored.

King Mu of Chou made a tour of inspection
in the west. He crossed the K'un-lun range,
but turned back before he reached the Yen
mountains.

" The plaee where the sun sets."

On his return journey, before arriving in China,
a certain artificer was presented to him, by
name Yen Shih. King Mu received him in
audience, and asked what he could do. "I
will do anything," replied Yen Shih, " that
your Majesty may please to command. But
there is a piece of work, already finished, that
I should like to submit first to your Majesty's
inspection." " Bring it with you to-morrow,"
said the King, " and we will look at it together."
So Yen Shih called again the next day, and was
duly admitted to the royal presence. "Who
is that man accompanying you ? " asked the
King. "That, Sire, is my own handiwork.

A MARVELLOUS AUTOMATON 91

He can sing and he can act." The King stared
at the figure in astonishment. It walked with
rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so
that any one would have taken it for a live
human being. The artificer touched its chin,
and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He
touched its hand, and it started posturing,
keeping perfect time. It went through any
number of movements suggested by its owner's
fancy. The King, looking on with his favourite
concubine and the other inmates of his harem,
could hardly persuade himself that it was not real.
As the performance was drawing to an end,
the automaton winked his eye and made sundry
advances to the ladies in attendance on the
King. This, however, threw the King into
a passion, and he would have put Yen Shih
to death on the spot had not the latter, in
mortal terror, instantly pulled the automaton
to pieces to let him see what it really was. And
lo ! it turned out to be merely a conglomeration
of leather, wood, glue and paint, variously
coloured white, black, red and blue. Examining
it closely, the King found all the internal
organs complete — liver, gall, heart, lungs, spleen,
kidneys, stomach and intestines — and, over these,
again, muscles and bones and limbs with their
joints, skin and teeth and hair, all of them
artificial. Not a part but was fashioned with
the utmost nicety and skill ; and when it was

92 THE QUESTIONS OF T'ANG

put together again, the figure presented the
same appearance as when first brought in. The
King tried the effect of taking away the heart,
and found that the mouth would no longer
utter a sound ; he took away the liver, and the
eyes could no longer see ; he took away the
kidneys, and the legs lost their power of loco-
motion.

Now the King was delighted. Drawing a
deep breath, he exclaimed : " Can it be that
human skill is really on a par with that of the
Creator ? " And forthwith he gave an order
for two extra chariots, in which he took home
with him the artificer and his handiwork.

Now, Pan Shu, with his cloud-scaling ladder,
and Mo Ti, with his flying kite, thought that they
had reached the limits of human achievement.

" Pan Shu made a cloud-ladder by which he could mount
to the sky and assail the heights of heaven ; Mo Ti made a
wooden kite which would fly for three days without coming
down."

But when Yen Shih's wonderful piece of work

had been brought to their knowledge, the two

philosophers never again ventured to boast

of their accomplishments, and ceased to busy

themselves so frequently with the square and

compasses.

* * *

Hei Luan of Wei had a secret grudge against

A BLOOD-FEUD 93

Ch'iu Ping-chang, for which he slew him ; and
Lai Tan, the son of Ch'iu Ping-chang, plotted
vengeance against his father's enemy. Lai Tan's
spirit was very fierce, but his body was very
slight. You could count the grains of rice that
he ate, and he was at the mercy of every gust
of wind. For all the anger in his heart, he
was not strong enough to take his revenge in
open fight, and he was ashamed to seek help
from others. Nevertheless he swore, with his
hand on his sword, that he would have the
blood of Hei Luan. This Hei Luan was the
most ferocious character of his day, and in brute
strength he was a match for a hundred men.
His bones and sinews, skin and flesh were cast
in superhuman mould. He would stretch out
his neck to the blade or bare his breast to the
arrow, but the sharp steel would bend or break,
and his body show no scar from the impact.
Trusting to his native strength, he looked disdain-
fully upon Lai Tan as a mere fledgling.

Lai Tan had a friend Shen T'a, who said to him :
" You have a bitter feud against Hei Luan, and
Hei Luan treats you with sovereign contempt.
What is your plan of action ? " Shedding tears,
Lai Tan besought his friend's counsel. " Well,"
said Shen T'a, "I am told that K'ung Chou of
Wei has inherited, through an ancestor, a sword
formerly possessed by the Yin Emperors, of
such magical power that a single child wielding

94 THE QUESTIONS OF TCANG

it can put to flight the embattled hosts of an
entire army. Why not sue for the loan of this
sword ? " Acting on this advice, Lai Tan
betook himself to Wei and had an interview with
K'ung Chou. Following the usage of supplicants,
he first went through the ceremony of handing
over his wife and children, and then stated his
request. " I have three swords," replied K'ung
Chou, " but with none of them can you kill
a man. You may choose which you like. First,
however, let me describe their qualities. The
first sword is called ' Light-absorber.' It is in-
visible to the eye, and when you swing it you
cannot tell that there is anything there. Things
struck by it retain an unbroken surface, and
it will pass through a man's body without
his knowing it. The second is called ' Shadow-
container.' If you face north and examine it
just at the point of dawn, when day meets night
and darkness is giving way to light, it appears
misty and. dim, as though there were something
there, the shape of which is not discernible.
Things struck by it give out a low sound, and
it passes through men's bodies without causing
them any pain. The third is called * Night-
tempered,' because in broad daylight you only
see its shadow and not the brightness of its blade,
while at night you see not the sword itself but
the dazzling light which it emits.
" Alluding to its reflecting power."

THE THREE MAGIC SWORDS 95

The objects which it strikes are cleft through
with a sibilant sound, but the line of cleavage
closes up immediately. Pain is felt, but no
blood remains on the blade. These three precious
heirlooms have been handed down for thirteen
generations, but have never been in actual use.
They lie stored away in a box, the seals of which
have never been broken." "In spite of what
you tell me," said Lai Tan, " I should like to
borrow the third sword." K'ung Chou then
returned his wife and children to him, and they
fasted together for seven days. On the seventh
day, in the dusk of evening, he knelt down
and presented the third sword to Lai Tan, who
received it with two low obeisances and went
home again.

" He chose the third of the swords because it could be
both handled and seen."

Grasping his new weapon, Lai Tan now sought
out his enemy, and found him lying in a drunken
stupor at his window. He cut clean through
his body in three places between the neck and
the navel, but Hei Luan was quite unconscious
of it. Thinking he was dead, Lai Tan made
off as fast as he could, and happening to meet
Hei Luan's son at the door, he struck at him
three times with his sword. But it was like
hitting the empty air .^ Hei Luan's son laughed

96 THE QUESTIONS OF T'ANG

and said : " Why are you motioning to me in
that silly way with your hand ? "

It will be remembered that the sword was invisible in
daylight.

Realising at last that the sword had no power
to kill a man, Lai Tan heaved a sigh and returned
home.

When Hei Luan recovered from the effects
of his debauch, he was angry with his wife :
" What do you mean by letting me lie exposed
to a draught ? " he growled ; "it has given me
a sore throat and aching pains in the small of
my back." " Why," said his son, "I am also
feeling a pain in my body, and a stiffness in my
limbs. Lai Tan, you know, was here a little time
ago and, meeting me at the door, made three
gestures, which seem somehow to have been
the cause of it. How he hates us, to be sure ! "

Thus, the improper use of divine weapons only leads to
discomfiture. In this allegory, Lieh Tzu is satirising the
blood-feud, which must have been a terrible feature of the
lawless times in which he lived. The powerlessness of the
magic sword to kill may symbolically represent the essential
futility of the vendetta which perpetuates itself from father
to son.

BOOK VI

EFFORT AND DESTINY

Effort said to Destiny :

I have purposely avoided the familiar modern terms, Fate
and Free will, which might seem to furnish the best equivalent
to li and ming. Li is the ordinary word for " strength " or
"force," and here indicates human effort exerted in some
definite direction (the German " streben ") as opposed to the
blind and unconscious workings of Nature or Tao.

" Your achievements are not equal to mine."
" Pray what do you achieve in the working of
things," replied Destiny, " that you would com-
pare yourself with me?" " Why," said Effort,
" the length of man's life, his measure of success,
his rank, and his wealth, are all things which I
have the power to determine." To this, Destiny
made reply : " P'eng Tsu's wisdom did not
exceed that of Yao and Shun, yet he lived to the
age of eight hundred. Yen Yiian's ability was
not inferior to that of the average man, yet he
died at the early age of thirty-two. The virtue
of Confucius was not less than that of the feudal
7 97

98 EFFORT AND DESTINY

princes, yet he was reduced to sore straits between
Ch'en and Ts'ai.

See The Sayings of Confucius, p. 115.

The conduct of Chou, of the Yin dynasty, did
not surpass that of the Three Men of Virtue, yet
he occupied a kingly throne.

Wei Tzu, Chi Tzu and Pi Kan were all relatives of Chou
Hsin, by whose orders the last-named was disembowelled.

Chi Cha would not accept the overlordship of
Wu, while T'ien Heng usurped sole power in
Ch'i. Po I and Shu Ch'i starved to death at
Shou-yang, while Chi Shih waxed rich at Chan-
ch'in. If these results were compassed by your
efforts, how is it that you allotted long life to
P'eng Tsu and an untimely death to Yen Yuan ;
that you awarded discomfiture to the sage and
success to the impious, humiliation to the wise
man and high honours to the fool, poverty to the
good and wealth to the wicked ? " " If , as you
say," rejoined Effort, " I have really no control
over events, is it not, then, owing to your manage-
ment that things turn out as they do ? " Destiny
replied : " The very name ' Destiny '

Something already immutably fixed.

shows that there can be no question of manage-

FIGHT NOT AGAINST FATE 99

ment in the case. When the way is straight, I
push on ; when it is crooked, I let be. Old age
and early death, failure and success, high rank
and humble station, riches and poverty — all
these come naturally and of themselves. Of
their ultimate causes, I am ignorant ; how could
it be otherwise ? "

" Being what it is, without knowing why — that is the
meaning of Destiny. What room is there for management
here ? "

Yang Chu had a friend called Chi Liang, who
fell ill. In seven days' time his illness had become
very grave ; medical aid was summoned, and
his sons stood weeping round his bed. Chi Liang
said to Yang Chu : " Such excess of emotion
shows my children to be degenerate. Will you
kindly sing them something which will enlighten
their minds 1 " Yang Chu then chanted the
following words :

" How should men possess the knowledge
which God Himself has not ? Over his destiny
man has no control, and can look for no help
from God. You and I know this for truth, but
our knowledge is not shared by sorcerers and
quacks."

The sons, however, did not understand, and
finally called in three physicians, Dr. Chiao,
Dr. Yii and Dr. Lu. They all diagnosed his

100 EFFORT AND DESTINY

complaint ; and Dr. Chiao delivered his opinion
first : " The hot and cold elements of your
body," he said to Chi Liang, " are not in
harmonious accord, and the impermeable and
infundibular parts are mutually disproportionate.
The origin of your malady is traceable to dis-
ordered appetites, and to the dissipation of your
vital essence through worry and care. Neither
God nor devil is to blame. Although the illness
is grave, it is amenable to treatment." Chi
Liang said : " You are only one of the common
ruck," and speedily got rid of him. Then Dr
Yii came forward and said : " You were born
with too little nervous force, and were too freely
fed with mother's milk. Your illness is not one
that has developed in a matter of twenty-four
hours ; the causes which have led up to it are
of gradual growth. It is incurable." Chi Liang
replied : " You are a good doctor," and told
them to give him some food. Lastly, Dr. Lu
said : " Your illness is attributable neither to
God, nor to man, nor to the agency of spirits. It
was already fore-ordained in the mind of Provi-
dence when you were endowed with this bodily
form at birth. What possible good can herbs
and drugs do you ? " " You are a heaven-born
physician indeed ! " cried Chi Liang ; and he
sent him away laden with presents.

Not long after, his illness disappeared of itself.

DEATH NO CAUSE FOR: "CEIEF 101

Duke Ching of Ch'i was travelling Across the
northern flank of the Ox-mountain in the direction
of the capital. Gazing at the view before him,
he burst into a flood of tears, exclaiming : " What
a lovely scene ! How verdant and luxuriantly
wooded ! To think that some day I must die
and leave my kingdom, passing away like running
water ! If only there were no such thing as
death, nothing should induce me to stir from
this spot." Two of the Ministers in attend-
ance on the Duke, taking their cue from him,
also began to weep, saying: "We, who are
dependent on your Highness's bounty, whose
food is of an inferior sort, who have to ride
on unbroken horses or in jolting carts — even we
do not want to die. How much less our
sovereign liege ! "

Yen Tzu, meanwhile, was standing by, with a
broad smile on his face. The Duke wiped away
his tears and, looking at him, said : " To-day I
am stricken with grief on my journey, and both
K'ung and Chii mingle their tears with mine.
How is it that you alone can smile 3 " Yen Tzu
replied : "If the worthy ruler were to remain in
perpetual possession of his realm, Duke T'ai and
Duke Huan would still be exercising their sway.
If the bold ruler were to remain in perpetual
possession, Duke Chuang and Duke Ling would
still be ruling the land. But if all these rulers
were now in possession, where would your High-

102 -EFFORT AND DESTINY

ness he ? Why, standing in the furrowed fields,
clad in coir cape and hat !

The ordinary garb of a Chinese peasant.

Condemned to a hard life on earth, you would
have had no time, I warrant, for brooding over
death. Again, how did you yourself come t(
occupy this throne ? By a series of successive
reigns and removals, until at last your turn came.
And are you alone going to weep and lament over
this order of things ? That is unmanly. It was
the sight of these two objects — an unmanly prince
and his fawning attendants — that was affording
me food for laughter just now."

Duke Ching felt much ashamed and, raising
his goblet, fined himself and his obsequious
courtiers two cups of wine apiece.

There was once a man, Tung-men Wu of Wei,
who when his son died testified no grief. His
house-steward said to him : " The love you bore
your son could hardly be equalled by that of any
other parent. Why, then, do you not mourn
for him now that he is dead ? " " There was a
time," replied Tung-men Wu, " when I had no
son. During the whole period that elapsed
before my son was born, I never had occasion to
grieve. Now that my son is dead, I am only in

NATURAL STOICISM 103

the same condition as I was before I had a son.
What reason have I, then, to mourn ? "

There is a story of Plutarch consoling his wife in exactly
similar terms after the death of their daughter.

The husbandman takes his measures according
to the season, the trader occupies himself with
gain, the craftsman strives to master his art, the
official pursues power. Here we have the opera-
tion of human forces.

Or "effort." vSee p. 97.

But the husbandman has seasons of rain and
seasons of drought, the trader meets with gains
and losses, the craftsman experiences both failure
and success, the official finds opportunities or the
reverse. Here we see the working of Destiny.

BOOK VII

CAUSALITY

In the course of Lieh Tzii's instruction by Hu-
ch'iu Tzxi-lin, the latter said to him : " You
must familiarise yourself with the theory of
consequents before you can talk of regulating
conduct." Lieh Tzu said : " Will you explain
what you mean by the theory of consequents ? "
" Look at your shadow," said his Master, " and
then you will know." Lieh turned and looked
at his shadow. When his body was bent, the
shadow was crooked ; when his body was up-
right, the shadow was straight. Thus it appeared
that the attributes of straightness and crooked-
ness were not inherent in the shadow, but corre-
sponded to certain positions of the body. Like-
wise, contraction and extension are not inherent
in the subject, but take place in obedience to
external causes. Holding this theory of conse-
quents is to be at home in the antecedent.

The Law of Causality is the foundation of all science.
104

CAUSE AND EFFECT 105

Kuan Yin spoke to the Master Lieh Tzu, say-
ing : "If speech is sweet, the echo will be sweet ;
if speech is harsh, the echo will be harsh. If the
body is long, the shadow will be long ; if the
body is short, the shadow will be short. Reputa-
tion is only an echo, external conduct only a
shadow.

" Hence the saying : * Heed your words, and
they will meet with harmonious response ; heed
your actions, and they will find agreeable accord.'
Therefore, the Sage observes the issue in order
to know the origin, scrutinises the past in
order to know the future. Such is the principle
whereby he attains foreknowledge.

" The standard of conduct lies with one's own
self ; the testing of it lies with other men. We
are impelled to love those who love us, and to
hate those who hate us. T'ang and Wu loved
the Empire, and therefore each became King.
Chieh and Chou hated the Empire, and therefore
they perished. Here we have the test applied.
He who does not follow Tao when standard
and test are both clear may be likened to one
who, when leaving a house, does not go by the
door, or, when travelling abroad, does not keep to
the straight road. To seek profit in this way,
is it not a thing that is impossible ?

" No one has ever profited, himself by opposing natural
law."

106 CAUSALITY

" You may consider the virtues of Shen Nung
and Yu Yen, you may examine the books of
Yii, Hsia, Shang and Chou, you may weigh
the utterances of great teachers and sages,
but you will find no instance of preservation or
destruction, fullness or decay, which has not
obeyed this supreme Law."

Of Causality.

Lieh Tzu learned archery and, when he was
able to hit the target, he asked the opinion of
Kuan Yin Tzii on his shooting. "Do you
know why you hit the target ? " said Kuan
Yin Tzii. No, I do not," was the reply.
"Then you are not good enough yet," rejoined
Kuan Yin Tzii . Lieh Tzii withdrew and practised
for three years, after which he again presented
himself. Kuan Yin Tzii asked, as before :
" Do you know why you hit the target ? "
"Yes," said Lieh Tzii, "I do." "In that
case, all is well. Hold that knowledge fast,
and do not let it slip."

"Mental and bodily equilibrium are to be sought within
oneself. Once you know the causal process which makes
you hit the target, you will be able to determine the opera-
tions of Destiny beforehand, and when the critical moment
comes, you will have left nothing undone."

The above principle does not apply only to

LEARN TO PUT TRUST IN OTHERS 107

shooting, but also to the government of a State
and to personal conduct. Therefore the Sage
investigates not the mere facts of preservation
and destruction, but rather the causes which
bring them about.

Lieh Tzii said : " Those who excel in beauty-
become vain ; those who excel in strength
become violent. To such, it is useless to speak
of Tao. Hence, he who is not yet turning grey
will surely err if he but speak of Tao ; how
much less can he put it into practice !

" No man will confide in one who shows himself
aggressive. And he in whom no man confides
will remain solitary and without support.

" The arrogant and the aggressive will accept no confi-
dences, even if they are made. Their mental attitude to
others is one of distrust, and they keep their ears and eyes
blocked. Who can render them assistance ? "

" The wise man puts his trust in others : thus
he reaches fullness of years without decay, per-
fection of wisdom without bewilderment. In
the government of a State, then, the hardest
thing is to recognise the worth of others,rand
not to rely upon one's own."

" If you succeed in recognising worth, then the wise will
think out plans for you, and the able will act for you. By

108 CAUSALITY

never rejecting talent from outside, you will find the State
easy to govern."

There was once a man in Sung who carved
a mulberry leaf out of jade for his prince. It
took three years to complete, and it imitated
Nature so exquisitely in its down, its glossiness,
and its general configuration from tip to stem,
that, if placed in a heap of real mulberry leaves,
it could not be distinguished from them. This
man was subsequently pensioned by the Sung
State as a reward for his skill. Lieh Tzii, hearing
of it, said : "If it took the Creator three years
to make a single leaf, there would be very few
trees with leaves on them. The Sage will rely
not so much on human science and skill as on
the evolution of Tao."

The Master Lieh Tzii was very poor, and
his face wore a hungry look. A certain stranger
spoke about it to Tzii Yang, Prince of Cheng.
1 Lieh Yii-k'ou," said he, " is a scholar in posses-
sion of Tao. Yet here he is, living in destitution,
within your Highness 's dominion. It surely
cannot be that you have no liking for scholars ?
Tzu Yang forthwith directed that an official
allowance of grain should be sent to him. Lieh
Tzii came out to receive the messengers, made
two low bows and declined the gift, whereupon

LIEH TZtJ IN POVERTY 109

the messengers went away, and Lieh Tzu re-
entered the house. There he was confronted
by his wife, who beat her breast and cried aloud :
" I have always understood that the wife and
family of a man of Tao live a life of ease and
pleasure. Yet now, when your Prince sends
you a present of food, on account of your starved
appearance, you refuse to accept it ! I suppose
you will call that 'destiny'!" The Master
Lieh Tzii smiled and replied : " The Prince
did not know about me himself. His present
of grain was made on the suggestion of another.
If it had been a question of punishing me, that
too would have been done at some one else's
prompting. That is the reason why I did not
accept the gift."

Later on, the masses rose in actual rebellion
against Tzii Yang, and slew him.

It is implied that Lieh Tzu's independence of spirit saved
his life, inasmuch as a pensioner would have shared the fate
of his patron.

* * *

Mr. Shih of Lu had two sons, one of whom
was a scholar and the other a soldier. The
former found in his accomplishments the means
of ingratiating himself with the Marquis of
Ch'i, who engaged him as tutor to the young
princes. The other brother proceeded to Ch'u,
and won favour with the King of that State by
his military talents. The King was so well

110 CAUSALITY

pleased that he installed him at the head of his
troops. Thus both of them succeeded in en-
riching their family and shedding lustre on
their kinsfolk.

Now, a certain Mr. Meng, the neighbour of
Mr. Shih, also had two sons who followed the
selfsame professions. Being straitened, however,
by poverty, and envying the affluence of the
Shih family, he called at his neighbour's house,
and wanted to know the secret of their rapid
rise in the world. The two brothers readily gave
the desired information to Mr. Meng, whereupon
the eldest son immediately set off for Ch'in, hoping
that his moral culture would recommend him
to the King of that State. But the King said :
" At the present moment all the feudal princes
are struggling to outbid one another in power,
and the great essential is to keep up a large
army. If I tried to govern my State on the
lines of altruism and righteousness, ruin and
annihilation would be the outcome." So saying,
he had the unfortunate man castrated, and
turned him away.

The second son, meanwhile, had gone to Wei,
hoping that his military knowledge would stand
him in good stead. But the Marquis of Wei
said to himself : " Mine is a weak State hedged
in by powerful ones.

Wei was bounded by Chin and Ch'i on the north, Lu on
the east, and Cheng on the south.

TIMELINESS 111

My method of preserving tranquillity is to
show subservience to the larger States and to
conciliate the lesser ones. If I were to rely on
armed force, I could only expect utter destruction.
I must not allow this man to depart unscathed,
or he may find his way to some other State and be
a terrible thorn in my side." So, without more
ado, he cut off his feet and sent him back to Lu.
On their return, the whole family fell to
beating their breasts in despair, and uttered
imprecations on Mr. Shih. Mr. Shih, however,
said : " Success consists in hitting off the right
moment, while missing it means failure. Your
method was identical with ours, only the result
was different. That is not due to any flaw in
the action itself, but simply because it was not
well timed. Nothing, in the ordering of this
world, is either at all times right or at all times
wrong. What formerly passed current may
nowadays be rejected ; what is now rejected
may by and by come into use again. The fact
that a thing is in use or in disuse forms no
criterion whatever of right or wrong. There is
no rule of thumb for seizing opportunities,
hitting off the right moment, or adapting oneself
to circumstances ; it is all a matter of native
wit. If you are deficient in that, you may
possess the learning of a Confucius or the
strategical gifts of a Lii Shang, and yet you will
remain poor wherever you go."

112 CAUSALITY

The Meng family were now in a more resigned
frame of mind, and their indignation had sub-
sided. " Yes, you are right," they said ; " the
lesson will not need to be repeated."

* * *

Duke Wen of Chin put an army into the field
with the intention of attacking the Duke of Wei,
whereat Tzu Ch'u threw his head back and
laughed aloud. On being asked the reason of
his behaviour, he replied : " I was thinking of
the experience of a neighbour of mine, who was
escorting his wife on a visit to her own family.
On the way, he came across a woman tending silk-
worms, who attracted him greatly, and he fell
into conversation with her. Happening to look
up, what should he see but his own wife also
receiving the attentions of an admirer ! It was the
recollection of this incident that made me laugh."

The Duke saw the point, and forthwith turned
home with his army. Before he got back , an invad-
ing force had already crossed his northern frontier !

" As you behave to others, so others will behave to you.
He who rides roughshod towards the accomplishment of his
own desires, in the belief that it will not occur to others to
do the like, will in all probability find himself circumstanced
as above."

* * *

In the Chin State, which was infested with
robbers, there lived a certain Ch'i Yung, who was
able to tell a robber by his face ; by examining

DETECTING ROBBERS 113

the expression of his eyes he could read his
inmost thoughts. The Marquis of Chin employed
him in the inspection of hundreds and thousands
of robbers, and he never missed a single one.
The Marquis expressed his delight to Wen Tzu
of Chao, saying : " I have a man who, single-
handed, is ridding my whole State of robbers.
He saves me the necessity of employing a whole
staff of police." Wen Tzu replied : ''If your
Highness relies on a detective for catching robbers,
you will never get rid of them. And what is
more, Ch'i Yung is certain sooner or later to meet
with a violent end."

Meanwhile, a band of robbers were plotting to-
gether. "Ch'i Yung," they said, " is the enemy
who is trying to exterminate us." So one day
they stole upon him in a body and murdered him.
When the Marquis of Chin heard the news, he was
greatly alarmed and immediately sent for Wen
Tzu. " Your prophecy has come true," he said ;
" Ch'i Yung is dead. What means can I adopt
for catching robbers now ? " "In Chou," replied
Wen Tzu, " we have a proverb : ' Search not the
ocean-depths for fish : calamity comes upon those
who pry into hidden mysteries.' If you want to
be quit of robbers, the best thing your Highness
can do is to promote the worthy to office. Let
them instruct and enlighten their sovereign on
the one hand, and reform the masses below them
on the other. If once the people acquire a sense

8

114 CAUSALITY

of shame, you will not find them turning into
robbers.5'

The Marquis then appointed Sui Hui to be
Prime Minister, and all the robbers fled to the
Ch'in State.

A shrewd thrust at the brigand State which eventually
swallowed up all the rest. The commentator says : " Apply
cleverness to ferret out wrongdoing, and the cunning rogue
will escape. Using the gift of intuition to expose crime only
excites hatred in the wicked. That ' sagacity is an evil ' is
no empty saying."

* * *

Duke Mu of Ch'in said to Po Lo :

A famous judge of horses, of whom Chuang Tzu speaks
with scant respect. See Musings of a Chinese Mystic, p. 66.

" You are now advanced in years. Is there any
member of your family whom I could employ
to look for horses in your stead ? " Po Lo
replied : "A good horse can be picked out by
its general build and appearance. But the
superlative horse — one that raises no dust and
leaves no tracks — is something evanescent and
fleeting, elusive as thin air. The talent of my
sons lies on a lower plane altogether : they can
tell a good horse when they see one, but they
cannot tell a superlative horse. I have a friend,
however, one Chiu-fang Kao, a hawker of fuel
and vegetables, who in things appertaining to
horses is nowise my inferior. Pray see him."

THE SUPERLATIVE HORSE 115

Duke Mu did so, and subsequently despatched
him on the quest for a steed. Three months
later, he returned with the news that he had
found one. " It is now in Sha-ch'iu," he added.
" What kind of a horse is it ? " asked the Duke.
" Oh, it is a dun-coloured mare," was the reply.
However, on some one being sent to fetch it,
the animal turned out to be a coal-black stallion !
Much displeased, the Duke sent for Po Lo. " That
friend of yours," he said, " whom I commissioned
to look for a horse, has made a nice mess of it.
Why, he cannot even distinguish a beast's colour
or sex ! What on earth can he know about
horses ? " Po Lo heaved a sigh of satisfaction.
" Has he really got as far as that ? " he cried.
"Ah, then he is worth a thousand of me put
together. There is no comparison between us.
What Kao keeps in view is the spiritual mechan-
ism. In making sure of the essential, he forgets
the homely details ; intent on the inward qualities,
he loses sight of the external. He sees what he
wants to see, and not what he does not want to
see. He looks at the things he ought to look at,
and neglects those that need not be looked at. So
clever a judge of horses is Kao, that he has it in
him to judge something better than horses."

When the horse arrived, it turned out indeed to
be a superlative horse.

116 CAUSALITY

Mr. Yii was a wealthy man of the Liang State.

Another name for the Wei State in the fourth century b.o.

His household was rolling in riches, and his
hoards of money and silk and other valuables
were quite incalculable. It was his custom to
have banquets served, to the accompaniment of
music, in a high upper hall overlooking the main
road ; there he and his friends would sit drinking
their wine and amusing themselves with bouts of
gambling.

One day, a party of young gallants happened
to pass along the road. In the chamber above,
play was going on as usual, and a lucky
throw of the dice, which resulted in the capture
of both fishes, evoked a loud burst of merriment
from the players.

The game here alluded to was played on a board with a
" river in the middle.

Precisely at that moment, it happened that a kite
which was sailing overhead dropped the carcass of
a rat in the midst of the company outside. The
young men held an angry consultation on the
spot: "This Mr. Yu," they said, "has been
enjoying his wealth for many a long day, and
has always treated his neighbours in the most
arrogant spirit. And now, although we have
never offended him, he insults us with this dead
rat. If such an outrage goes unavenged, the

NEMESIS 117

world will look upon us as a set of poltroons.
Let us summon up our utmost resolution, and
combine with one accord to wipe him and his
family out of existence ! " The whole party
signified their agreement, and when the evening
of the appointed day had come, they collected,
fully armed for the attack, and exterminated
every member of the family.

" Pride and extravagance lead to calamity and ruin in
more ways than one. Mr. Yii's family was destroyed, al-
though in this particular instance he had no thought of
insulting others ; nevertheless, the catastrophe was due to
an habitual lack of modesty and courtesy in his conduct."

* * *

In the east of China there was a man named
Yuan Ching Mu, who set off on a journey but was
overcome by hunger on the way. A certain
robber from Hu-fu, of the name of Ch'iu, saw him
lying there, and fetched a bowl of rice-gruel in
order to feed him. After swallowing three
mouthfuls, Yuan Ching Mu opened his eyes and
murmured, "Who are you ? " "I am a native
of Hu-fu, and my name is Ch'iu." " Oh misery ! "
cried Yuan Ching Mu, " are not you the robber
Ch'iu ? What are you feeding me for ? I am
an honest man and cannot eat your food/' So
saying, he clutched the ground with both hands,
and began retching and coughing in order to
bring it up again. Not succeeding, however, he
fell flat on his face and expired.

118 CAUSALITY

Now the man from Hu-fu was a robber, no
doubt, but the food he brought was not affected
thereby. Because a man is a robber, to refuse to
eat the food he offers you, on the ground that it
is tainted with crime, is to have lost all power of
discriminating between the nominal and the real.

* * *

Yang Chu's younger brother, named Pu, went
out one day wearing a suit of white clothes. It
came on to rain, so that he had to change, and
came back dressed in a suit of black. His dog
failed to recognise him in this garb, and rushed
out at him, barking. This made Yang Pu angry,
and he was going to give the dog a beating, when
Yang Chu said : " Do not beat him. You are no
wiser than he. For, suppose your dog went
away white and came home black, do you mean
to tell me that you would not think it strange ? "

* * *

Yang Chu said : " You may do good without
thinking about fame, but fame will come to you
nevertheless. You may have fame without
aiming at pelf, but pelf is sure to follow in its
wake. You may be rich without wishing to
provoke emulation and strife, yet emulation and
strife will certainly result. Hence the superior
man is very cautious about doing good."

* * *

The good people of Han-tan were in the habit,

TELEOLOGY 119

every New Year's day, of presenting their Gover-
nor, Chien Tzii, with a number of live pigeons.
This pleased the Governor very much, and he
liberally rewarded the donors. To a stranger who
asked the meaning of the custom, Chien Tzii
explained that the release of living creatures on
New Year's day was the sign of a benevolent
disposition. " But," rejoined the stranger, " the
people being aware of your Excellency's whim, no
doubt exert themselves to catch as many pigeons
as possible, and large numbers must get killed
in the process. If you really wish to let the birds
live, the best way would be to prohibit the people
from capturing them at all. If they have to be
caught first in order to be released, the kindness
does not compensate for the cruelty." Chien
Tzii acknowledged that he was right.

Mr. T'ien, of the Ch'i State, was holding an
ancestral banquet in his hall, to which a thousand
guests were bidden. As he sat in their midst,
many came up to him with presents of fish and
game. Eyeing them approvingly, he exclaimed
with unction : " How generous is Almighty God
to man ! He makes the five kinds of grain to
grow, and creates the finny and the feathered
tribes, especially for our benefit." All Mr.
T'ien's guests applauded this sentiment to the
echo ; but the twelve-year-old son of a Mr. Pao,
regardless of seniority, came forward and said :

120 CAUSALITY

1 ' You are wrong, my lord. All the living creatures
of the universe stand in the same category as
ourselves, and one is of no greater intrinsic value
than another. It is only by reason of size,
strength or cunning that some particular species
gains the mastery, or that one preys upon another.
None of them are produced in order to subserve the
uses of others. Man catches and eats those that
are fit for food, but how can it be maintained that
God creates these expressly for man's use ?
Mosquitoes and gnats suck man's blood, and
tigers and wolves devour his flesh ; but we do
not therefore assert that God created man ex-
pressly for the benefit of mosquitoes and gnats,
or to provide food for tigers and wolves."

In reading these words, penned before the beginning of our
era, it is curious to reflect that only about fifty years ago
Christian teleology used solemnly to preach this very doctrine
of " design," until Darwin arose and swept it away for
ever.

A man, having lost his axe, suspected his
neighbour's son of having taken it. Certain
peculiarities in his gait, his countenance and his
speech, marked him out as the thief. In his
actions, his movements, and in fact his whole
demeanour, it was plainly written that he and
no other had stolen the axe. By and by, how-
ever, while digging in a dell, the owner came across
the missing implement. The next day, when

THE CANKER OF SUSPICION 121

he saw his neighbour's son again, he found no
trace of guilt in his movements, his actions, or his
general demeanour.

" The man in whose mind suspicion is at work will let
himself be carried away by utterly distorted fancies, until at
last he sees white as black, and detects squareness in a
circle."

There was once a man in the Ch'i State who
had a burning lust for gold. Rising early one
morning, he dressed and put on his hat and went
down to the market-place, where he proceeded
to seize and carry off the gold from a money-
changer's shop.

An ordinary thief would have gone at night, and probably
naked, after smearing his body with oil.

He was arrested by the police, who were puzzled
to know why he had committed the theft at a
time when everybody was about. " When I was
taking the gold," he replied, "I did not see
anybody at all ; what I saw was the gold, and
nothing but the gold."

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